Dengue is on an all time high in Coimbatore with 4215 cases so far this year. Most of the cases are paediatric, infested predominantly by primary dengue, the most commonly transmitted this season.

Dengue cases have gone up by almost 100 per cent in the last two months, even as the Corporation and the Health Department has identified eleven hot spots including Athupalam, Kotamedu, Ganapathy, Pothanur, Kovaipudur among others. On the four different strains of dengue that are currently virulent, the Resident Medical Officer of the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, Dr A Soundervel said that the first and four can be dangerous if there is no early intervention. On the three markers of dengue detection—NS1 antigen when the case is tested positive in the first three days; IgM antibody test after three days and IgG antibody test after five or seven days. When IgG tests positive along with NS1, then it could result in steep drop of platelets, most often the cause of dengue death, he said

Early intervention is imperative and so is avoiding self medication. The corporation has embarked upon several public awareness programmes to create awareness on the vector borne disease and a decline in the number of cases can be expected in the coming months,said the RMO,

State Health officials however state that about 35,000 workers have been engaged across the state to clean up potential mosquito breeding sites. While most of them affected by dengue are children and women who lack immunity in Coimbatore, Madurai witnessed the death of a 27-year-old police personnel recently. Thangasamy, a newly wedded cop contracted dengue when he visited his relatives at Sellur, the native of Tamil Nadu Cooperatives Minister Sellur Raju, soon after his marriage.

This incident has drawn a lot of criticism as this is the second case in a short span of time (the first being a four-year-old who died a few days back) raising questions on the lack of sanitation at the State Ministers native place.

In a bid to contain spread of dengue, the health officials have also asked private practitioners to conduct tests for malaria, dengue, chikungunya, typhoid and leptospirosis for people reporting with fever, body ache and rashes to ensure early diagnosis.