Mystery fever in Balapur down to typhoid, dengue

HYDERABAD: Nearly a fortnight after several cases of a mystery fever were reported from 16 settlements, largely housing Rohingya refugees, in Balapur area of the city, cases of typhoid, dengue and chikungunya were confirmed after running several tests.
While the remaining cases have been diagnosed as those of viral fever and health authorities blame the poor hygienic conditions in these areas for the outbreak, new cases continue to be reported each day.Also, the fact that each of the small makeshift huts in these settlements house 10-15 people, makes it easier for the viruses to spread. So far, about 200 people have fallen ill and the numbers are increasing by the day.
"We are finding 3-4 new cases of fever in the settlements each day during our daily survey of the area and symptomatic treatment for fever along with antibiotics are being administered. Immediately after the cases came to light, a health camp was conducted, in which 414 people were screened for symptoms and treatment was initiated. As many as 41 samples were sent for testing and water samples were also taken for testing," said Dr KV Lakshmi, district medical health officer, Rangareddy district.
The highly congested urban slum, where an estimated 3,500 refugees are putting up, lacks basic facilities like drinking water supply and drainage system.
While measures like anti-larval spraying and cleaning up of water logging points were taken up by municipal authorities and a medical official has also been put on the job of conducting daily checks at these settlements, more efforts are required on the sanitation front.
"Open nalas and garbage dumps are a big problem as these mosquito breeding points are located close to these refugee settlements. Also, the fact that they are overcrowded and most of the children are not vaccinated, make them very vulnerable to outbreaks," said another health department official.