By Sampat G. Samritan
Copyright deccanchronicle
Vijayawada: Timely governmental intervention in providing healthcare to those suffering from fever helped control the deaths from Sept 3 in Turakapalem village in Guntur district.Following the death of 30 persons from April 1 due to fever and other health issues plaguing the area, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu deployed the health authorities for urgent action. They immediately set up health camps in the village. ANMs and ASHA workers took up door-to-door surveys, identifying the people suffering from various health issues, and they were shifted to the health camps for treatment. Some were admitted to government hospitals where a series of tests were done and medical treatment provided. So far, blood samples of 91 people suffering from fever were collected and analysed. Of them, 64 samples were found to be negative to melioidosis bacterial infection, while 16 were found to be positive to staphylo focus bacteria. The state health authorities say the staphylo focus bacteria will spread through wet soil through abrasions on the skin of a person, or ingestion of contaminated water and inhalation of polluted air through lungs. However, it will not spread from human to human or from animal to human. The disease caused due to the staphylo focus bacteria is prevalent during the monsoon period and affects the people in the village. Some 11 blood samples were in the process of analysis and their results are expected on Wednesday. Guntur medical college principal Dr Sundara Chary said, “We have taken up a door-to-door survey identifying the people suffering mainly fever and shifted them to the health camps or admitted them in hospitals. This helped to control the deaths.” Scientists from the ICMR, ICAR and senior doctors and experts from AIIMS, the national centre for disease control and from other agencies are involved in collecting water and soil samples in the village and sending them for analysis to find out the root cause of the disease. Meanwhile, a team of experts from NCDC visited the Guntur medical college and the government hospital on Tuesday and inspected the ongoing process of analysis of blood samples of patients and checked the functioning of the medical equipment.
