A coalfield in Talcher

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 6: The state government today geared up its health machinery to contain the spread of dengue after 29 blood samples were tested positive.

Most of the cases were reported from coal rich Angul district.

The government has asked the coal-based industrial units in Angul-Talcher belt to ensure that open coal pits did not contain stagnant water, the breeding ground of Aedes mosquitoes, that causes dengue.

While a high-level health team has been deputed to supervise the medical services, the district administration has been directed to take effective measures.

The civic bodies and other allied agencies across the state have been asked to generate public awareness on the symptoms and causes of the disease and how to prevent it, he added.

“No casualty has been reported so far. The disease seems to be confined to certain pockets of the state and has not spread to other areas. There is no reason for people to panic,” assured the state’s health minister Prasanna Acharya.

Echoing the minister, medical experts have also asked people not to panic as dengue could be cured with proper medical care.

Acharya said that of the 29 cases detected positive, 24 were from Angul-Talcher belt in Angul district.

One blood sample from nearby Mayurbhanj district was positive. In July, Sundergarh district, yet another mineral rich district of the state, had accounted for four positive cases.

The state government has sent its director (public health), Dr Upendra Sahu and deputy director (malaria), Dr M.M. Pradhan to the affected areas and monitor the treatment being provided to the affected patients.

Official sources said dengue virus was first detected in Orissa in 2006, when one out of 104 blood samples tested positive. Not a single case was found positive between 2007-2009.

However, last year five out of 169 samples had tested dengue positive, added these sources.