Thiruvananthapuram: An Adimalathura resident died of Leptospirosis on Monday, but authorities say that the incidence of the disease is on the decline.
“The number of Leptospirosis cases has been reducing, and there were fewer cases over the past week. The person who died was exposed to the floods and had not taken doxycycline, as per official records. From January till this day, there have been nine deaths in the district,” said district medical officer (DMO) Dr P P Preetha.
According to the records, 33-year-old Shaiju who breathed his last on Monday was exposed to floods. However, Johnson Jament, mentor, Coastal Students’ Cultural Forum, said that the young man had not accompanied them during the rescue operations. There have been other deaths connected with people voluntarily going for relief operations in flood-affected areas.
According to the DMO, two others had gone for rescue operations. All the deaths were caused either when people had not taken the prophylactic medicine and or when it was too late to start taking them, according to Dr Preetha.
There was a new case on Tuesday, according to the records uploaded by Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme. It was in Poojappura.
Dengue had two new cases—in Chalai and Paruthipara. In the week following the flood, more than five new cases would be reported on some days. Compared to this, the intensity has reduced, with the number of cases being reported being less than 2.
Any shortage in doxycycline, in the panchayats, is communicated to the Pharmacist Store Keeper, who is now in charge of procurements, as the Store Verification Officer (SVO) was promoted.
The DMO said that shortages are being immediately addressed. When IDSP cell was contacted to ask if the doxycycline usage has increased, the official who answered said they did not have the data.
