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Monday, July 12, 2010

India : It pays to be hygienic

Via The Hindu, an informative report on diseases spreading in India right now :

" TIRUPATI: The onset of monsoon brings not only cheers, but also flu-related illnesses. Be it urban or rural dwellings, mosquitoes and pigs ‘work overtime' to transmit the virus and we have to be doubly cautious to stay hygienic.

While the panic has subsided over swine flu, sporadic cases have indeed been spotted in parts of Vizag and a couple of suspected cases reported in Gandhi Hospital, Hyderabad.

While shoulder-to-shoulder contact is the typical platform for its spread, what is perplexing is that even in the height of the swine flu-mania witnessed all over, not many cases were reported in Tirupati, in spite of the heavy influx of devotees from across the world. That there is every chance of an occurrence of a pandemic in the temple city can still not be ruled out.

Brain fever

Japanese Encephalitis, commonly called ‘brain fever', occurs this part of the year especially in rural habitations and forest fringe villages. The virus is spread by Culex mosquitoes, while pigs, herons and cattle act as the ‘amplifying hosts' in retaining and transmitting the virus. As cattle-rearing has almost been banished from the city limits, the residents are more prone to dengue than JE.

“Stored rain water, be it on coconut shells or old tyres dumped around, half-open overhead tanks, watering plants dotting your balcony and even the water not drained out of air coolers, act as the breeding ground for the aedis mosquitoes,” warns Alladi Mohan, head of Medicine at SVIMS. His tip for staying away from the virus is by sticking to personal hygiene.

Meanwhile, the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) has decided to conduct camps to tackle possible outbreak of flu-like illnesses. According to R.V.R. Prasad, Additional Director in-charge of Tirupati-based Clinical Research Unit (Homeopathy), ‘Arsenic Album 30' has been found to be the right medicine for several such diseases. ‘A stall would be opened soon at our premises in Bhavani Nagar Circle to distribute preventive doses to the public', he added."

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