Palpa, September 6
Palpa has recorded the highest number of dengue infections among the 12 districts of Lumbini Province, with 231 cases confirmed in less than two months of the current fiscal year.
According to the District Health Office, Palpa, 231 people tested positive for dengue between the beginning of the fiscal year 2083/84 BS and Bhadra 20. The number is the highest reported from any district in the province during the period.
Dengue cases have been detected at four major hospitals in the district—Palpa Hospital in Tansen, Rampur Hospital, Lumbini Medical College in Prabhas and United Mission Hospital in Tansen. Cases are also increasingly being reported by other health facilities and private medical centres.
Health Office information officer Madhusudan Bhattarai attributed the rise to climate change and an expansion in dengue testing. He said a significant number of patients from outside the district treated at two major private hospitals in Palpa had also tested positive, contributing to the district’s high case count.
Palpa recorded 432 dengue cases in fiscal year 2082/83 BS, 510 in 2081/82 BS and 686 in 2080/81 BS.
Dengue is transmitted through the bite of infected female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, whose breeding increases during the rainy season. Health authorities have urged people to eliminate mosquito breeding sites and take precautions against mosquito bites.
