'70 pc of dengue-affected patients acquired it outside state'

With dengue claiming one life and affecting 481 persons in Odisha, state Health Minister Atanu S Nayak today said 70 per cent of the people diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease were infected outside the state.
Of the 481 dengue cases detected so far, many of the patients had returned to the state after getting infected during their stay in Hyderabad, Mumbai, parts of Maharastra, Delhi and Surat.
"Number of people getting dengue virus inside the state is very small," the Minister said after reviewing the situation here.
Asking people not to panic over the situation, Nayak pointed out that the situation "is much better" than the previous year.

While four persons had died and 1,558 affected with dengue till September 18, 2014, this time the casualty is one and number of affected people is 481.
"The number of dengue cases in Odisha is less than one per cent of the all India cases," the minister said.

83 of the 481 cases were being treated at government hospitals including 65 at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack with eight patients admitted to the ICU, the minister said.
The medical college hospital at Cuttack has provision of 200 beds for the treatment of dengue patients, he said.
While 13 patients are being treated at the VSS Medical College Hospital at Burla, three cases was being treated at Capital Hospital here and two cases in Puri District Headquarters Hospital.

The minister said all the district headquarters hospitals have facilities for free dengue test and free medicines. Special arrangements have been made at three state-run medical colleges and at the Capital Hospital for the treatment of dengue patients, Nayak said.