14 new patients test positive for dengue in Indore

Fourteen more persons tested positive for dengue last night, taking the total number of patients who have contracted the disease to 99 here, an official said.
Of the 99, three persons have succumbed to the disease.
Nine men and five women tested positive for dengue in the blood test conducted in laboratory and all of them have been discharged, Integrated Diseases Surveillance Project (IDSP) district unit in-charge Dr G L Sodhi, told PTI today.
There have been cases in the past that patients who tested positive in the IDSP report were discharged from hospital before getting the report.
Over allegations that test procedures were taking a long time, Dr Sodhi said the facility, Mac Elisa method, carried out to detect dengue, is available only in the Microbiology department of government-run Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital.

Head of Microbiology Department at MGM, Dr Anita Mutha said that the test kits (for Mac Elisa test) is supplied from Pune based National Institute of Virology by the Central government and only a limited number of kits is supplied to them, which is why they use it after collecting at least 7-8 samples.
The test is conducted (by department) only on those persons who have tested positive in the rapid test (another test used to detect dengue), so the allegation that delay in handing over the report is resulting in delayed treatment stands false, she said.