30 suspected dengue cases at IIT Bombay in two months

MUMBAI: Over 30 suspected cases of dengue
were reported on the Indian Institute of
Technology-Bombay ( IIT-B) campus in
Powai in the last two months.
Of these, 23 cases were recorded in July
alone, a month when the rest of the city
also saw an increase in the number of
dengue cases.
In June, the IIT-B hospital inside the Powai
campus saw only eight cases of suspected
dengue, a disease spread by the sting of
mosquitoes.
In comparison, the hospital treated only
three cases of malaria, another vector-
borne disease , in June. The hospital treated
two malaria cases in July .
The diseases data was last compiled on
August 5 for the civic records .
Authorities at the premier engineering
institute said they were taking extreme care
to prevent the occurrence of dengue and
other diseases on campus.
The BMC also distributed information
leaflets to create awareness on dengue in
the IIT hostels in July.
The public health office on the campus also
issued a general advisory stating that there
should not be any open accumulation of
fresh water anywhere on the campus, said
sources.
For the first time on the campus, the public
health officer also started maintaining a
register with names of people who had
develop fever, claimed a doctor from the
IIT-B hospital.
One of the hostel students who contracted
the disease claimed that their hostels were
generally mosquito-free, but he might have
contracted it due to the waterlogging on the
campus.
He claimed that the maintenance personnel
had been cleaning the campus frequently
after the reported cases, especially the area
where there were patients.
"Dengue can be confirmed only after the
disease is over," Dr Nisha Shah, chief
medical officer at the IIT-B hospital, said.
"The tests can be positive even for a patient
suffering from typhoid, but it can still be
determined through particular marks or
rashes. Two years ago, we did have two
confirmed cases. However, this year there
were no confirmed cases."
IIT-B dean of student affairs UA Yajnik said
that institute had not issued any campus-
wide advisory as the disease itself was
locality specific.