NEWS

Dengue in Kashmir?

By Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
October 12, 2006 19:19 IST

Four persons have been admitted to the Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar with symptoms similar to dengue fever.

"Four persons have been admitted in the emergency observation ward of the institute with symptoms suggestive of dengue fever," a senior doctor at the hospital told rediff.com.

The doctor, however, added that the blood samples of two of the four suspected dengue patients have tested negative, which means they do not carry the dreaded infection.

"The blood test reports of the other two suspected dengue sufferers are still awaited and we would have them by tomorrow," the doctor said.

Hospital sources said that all four are locals who had recently returned to the Valley after visiting places outside the state.

In order to monitor and stop the probable entry of persons who might be carrying with them the infections for the dreaded dengue fever, the state administration has deputed a team of doctors who scan tourists at the Lakhenpur check post in the Kathua district of the Jammu region, which is the entry point for visitors into the state.

Doctors say that the particular species of mosquitoes that carry the virus is not found in the valley as the temperatures here are not conducive for its survival.

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

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