227 dengue cases detected in Dimapur and Chümoukedima; door-to-door campaign initiated

DIMAPUR — In light of the increasing number of dengue cases in Dimapur and Chümoukedima districts, the National Center for Vector-Borne Disease Control (NCVBDC) Dimapur has initiated a door-to-door awareness campaign in the two districts, including Medziphema.

Peter Sangtam, District Vector Borne Disease Consultant Dimapur, Peter Sangtam told Eastern Mirror that 227 positive cases have been detected in the two districts as on Monday out of 1677 samples tested.

He said that the door-to-door campaign included inspection, as well as information education communication (IEC), behaviour change communication (BCC), and inter-personal communication (IPC) interactions.

These activities were conducted simultaneously in Dimapur sadar, Chümoukedima and Medziphema, managed by three dedicated team.

He said first team is under his leadership, the second team is headed by the district program officer and Communicable Disease-I/ District Surveillance Officer (DPO CD-I/DSO), Dr. A. Kavito Zhimomi, and the third by Dr. Molung Jamir, an epidemiologist.

Further, Sangtam said that each team comprising11 members, visited Sabalie Colony in Chümoukedima, Diphupar A village, and Medziphema village, making that sure that there is no breeding ground for mosquitoes larvae.

While maintaining that fogging can effectively eliminate adult mosquitoes, he said it falls short of eradicating the crucial mosquito larvae breeding sites, pointing out that there is a risk of dengue spreading persistently till breeding sites are addressed.

He informed that they had conducted inspections in over 60 houses located in Sabalie Colony, Chümoukedima and covered about 200 houses on Monday.

District Vector Borne Disease Consultant Dimapur shared that in addition to house-to-house visits, they also engaged in discussions with the village councils and youth organisations, and raised awareness about dengue.

Sangtam informed that the three teams are planning to cover more than 50 localities within this month. He added that the localities are selected after a careful assessment, taking into account both the positive cases detected and the areas suspected of being at risk of dengue outbreak.

Also read: Rising dengue cases in Dimapur, Chümoukedima ‘highly concerning’, says official