August 31: The number of patients suffering from dengue fever has increased in the Kathmandu Valley in recent days.    
Of late, dengue cases have been mostly detected in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Rupandehi districts in the country. Hospitals in these districts are busy attending patients who arrive for treatment of dengue.

The mosquito-borne disease is transmitted by Aedes-aegypti and Aedes alobopictus mosquitoes. The mosquitoes of the species are active in the morning and evening and breed in clean-pooled water.    
According to the Spokesperson of Ministry of Health and Population Dr Sanjaya Kumar Thakur, the cases of dengue have increased in some cities since mid-July this year.    
He shared that 1,056 dengue patients were detected in Lalitpur, 377 in Rupandehi and 332 in Kathmandu.    
Spokesperson Thakur said that dengue cases have increased because of unmanaged urbanization. He added  that individual efforts would be effective rather than that of the government in the prevention and control of dengue outbreak.    
"In critical cases of dengue, the white blood cell count goes down. Most of the cases are controlled through Cetamol tablet," he added.    
Chief Consultant Physician at Shukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital Dr Bimal Chalise shared that 90-105 patients are visiting the hospital daily for treatment. Among them 30-35 need hospitalization whereas 60-70 require emergency service.      
Most of the patients, he said, are having the symptoms such as high fever, headache, body ache, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhea.    
Dengue was first detected in Nepal in the year 2004. Cases of dengue fever increased in 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019. As many as 17,992 dengue-infected cases were found in 2019.    
The mosque-transmitted disease which was mostly found in Terai-Madhes has also been increasingly detected in mountainous cities, including Pokhara and Kathmandu since 2018. -- RSS