A vision lives on
Even though he avoided limelight throughout his life, last week he was a headline in all Kolkata newspapers including The Statesman. And, in all international newspapers earlier in the month.
As dengue cases see a marked increase in Siliguri, officials at the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) have said necessary steps were being taken to tackle the spread of the vector borne disease. Dengue cases have now been detected in several wards, including 2, 4, 11, 14, 15, 20, 25, 33, 39, 42 and 45. Sources at the SMC said that from January, 35 cases had been found till Thursday. It is learnt that the number of cases was much higher. “Some persons have been tested positive within a span of a few days. There are at least seven active cases, with a four-year-old baby reported in a stretch of last five days in the SMC area. Special attention is being paid to the hotspots.
The mapping of wards is being done, keeping all 47 wards as vulnerable, as cases have been found in almost all the wards. More than one case has been found in some areas,” a source said today. According to experts, dengue has spread throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions over the past 60 years and it currently affects over half of the world’s population. The disease is caused by the dengue virus (DENV), an RNA virus with four distinct serotypes, DENV1-4, each capable of causing disease. Under favorable conditions, the life-cycle of the Aedes mosquito completes in an average of one week (egg to adult).
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Sources said a 53-yearold resident of ward 5 had been tested positive for dengue today. A 24-year-old and 23- year-old resident also tested positive in wards 39 and 45, respectively, yesterday. The four-year-old child from ward 20 was found positive on Tuesday. Two persons, a 51-yearold (ward 4) and another 53- year-old resident were found dengue positive on Monday, and a 28-year-old was tested positive on Sunday. There are 134 vector control teams (VCT) in the town. According to SMC commissioner Sonam Wangdi Bhutia, all precautionary steps were being taken to check the spread of the disease.
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