Bhubaneswar/Angul, Aug. 22: The health department has taken preventive measures in the wake of a dengue death in Odisha. So far, 30 dengue positive cases have been detected from across the state during this monsoon.

“One dengue death was reported from SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack,” health secretary Pradipta Mohapatra told The Telegraph.

Mohapatra, however, advised people not to panic. “So far, 30 dengue positive cases have been detected as against 1,300 last year. These are all sporadic incidences,” he said.

“Instead of getting the suspected dengue cases treated at private nursing homes, people should take the victims to government-run district hospitals and the three medical college and hospitals, which are all well-equipped to treat such cases,” said the official.

Health department sources said Sanatan Nayak, 20, a resident of Dasipur village in Kankadahad block of Dhenkanal district died of dengue at SCB Medical College and Hospital yesterday.

Sanatan, who complained of high fever, was initially treated at Mahabirod health centre. Later, he was admitted to a private nursing home at Talcher as his health condition did not improve.

He was moved to SCB after his blood sample tested positive for dengue. However, he died there yesterday during treatment, health department sources said.

One more suspected dengue death was reported from Bantaal in neighbouring Angul district. Biranchi Narayan Thamb, 52, a suspected dengue patient, was under treatment at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar. He died on Monday night.

Biranchi, who according to his family members, had been down with fever for 15 days, was undergoing treatment at a private nursing home in Angul. But when his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to a private hospital in the state capital on Sunday and he died the next day.

Though hospital sources said the death was caused by dengue, health officials, however, said it was not a confirmed case.

Health officials have launched an awareness campaign in the dengue-prone Angul and Dhenkanal districts. The region was the epicentre of the dengue epidemic last year. Talcher and Angul had reported 25 dengue deaths as compared to 80 in the entire state. So far, eight confirmed dengue cases have been reported from Angul but there have been no confirmed deaths.