Dengue fever is becoming more critical, similar to COVID: Pediatrician

Similar to the COVID cases, there is an increase in dengue cases in the country, Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children (LRH) Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Deepal Perera said.

He told the Daily Mirror that most attention was focused on the COVID cases, but the number of dengue-infected cases was increasing rapidly. Every ward in government and private sector hospitals has four or five dengue patients.

"Every day, one or two dengue positive cases are reported from hospitals," he said.

Due to the inclement and adverse weather conditions, the dengue breeding sites have been increased. 

"Most of the construction sites were shut down temporarily due to the lack of cement stocks. Therefore, the workers attached to the sites had already left, and there was no one to maintain those sites and conduct the cleaning activities. Due to the heavy rains, those abandoned construction sites were better places for mosquitoes to breed, he said.

"Dengue positive cases were used to report from every area in the country where there was no single dengue case reported. Most of the abandoned construction sites caused the sudden increase of dengue virus, " Dr. Perera said.

Therefore, the paediatrician advised people to put more attention into spreading the dengue virus, similar to the attention drawn to the coronavirus.

Dr. Perera advised parents to be very careful with their children.  He added that it was better to identify the disease after blood tests after three days. "It is better to give only paracetamol doses according to the weight of the children until they visit a doctor. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)