TURA:
Surveillance teams of the Health department are on their toes in West Garo Hills over rising cases of dengue and more worryingly the recent death of a Tura citizen from viral meningoencephalitis- an inflammation of the brain, a rare disease in this part of the country.
The victim, a 43-year-old education official, was admitted in a Tura hospital at the start of last week and was shifted to Guwahati where he was put into an ICU after his condition deteriorated where he passed away.
“We believe he may have contracted the infection outside the region since he had gone for an official event to Kerala and fell ill while returning. It is a condition that is usually caused by a virus, bacterium, parasite or other microorganism and symptoms can include fever, confusion, vomiting, seizures or, if left untreated, even death. It is not contagious but rare to find such cases here,” said a Tura medical surveillance doctor who handled the case.
But that has not stopped the state’s top health officials from seeking a comprehensive review of the incident given today’s complex health scenario where viruses have become the greatest threat to mankind.
Viral infections or diseases caused by a virus are rising across the country and the world, Covid being one big example.
Then there is dengue (break-bone fever), a viral infection spread by mosquito bites on humans, which was something rarely experienced in this region, in the past decade.
Dengue cases are coming up frequently in the region and two years ago was a major health issue in Tura where the disease outbreak was identified in areas where people were living close to where pigs were being reared.
Currently, there are as many as 21 cases of dengue in West Garo Hills district.
The fast degradation of forests to make way for plantations in the Garo Hills causing a shifting of animal habitats is also a matter of concern.
Such clearing of rich forests to make way for areca nut or betel nut plantations upsets the delicate balance of disease cycles by bringing human, animal and vector populations closer with a danger of zoonotic diseases.
A glaring case is that of the Kyasanur forest disease or monkey fever which is a tick borne infection transmitted from ticks on monkeys that caused mayhem in the Shivamogga region of Karnataka where 14 villagers lost their lives in 2019.
Garo Hills also has a sizable primate population.