12 new cases of Dengue surfaced in Jammu region on Monday out of which seven cases in Jammu district and five cases were reported in Samba district. As the health authorities are grappling to tame the deadly disease, the steady flow of new cases will certainly be a nightmare for them. Reason being, the disease has already claimed three lives in these two districts, one in Jammu district and two in Samba district. Confirming 12 new cases today, Director Health Services Jammu Dr B S Pathania, while talking to KTNS, said, “Dengue will peak in the month of October as the conditions become conducive for the vector-born disease to proliferate.” Although the Health department is taking all possible steps to contain the spread of Dengue which seems to be taking epidemic proportions, Jammu division is registering average 35-40 suspected new cases every day. Till October 8 evening, the Directorate Health Services, Jammu had recorded 979 suspected patients, out of whom 393 were confirmed positive, in the division. Even the officials in the health department admit that though the department has waged an all out war against this disease by doing whatever is possible, the spread of dengue has accentuated. Recently, the health department opened new blood collection centers in Samba, Vijaypur, Purmandal, Gurah Slathia, Bari Brahmana, Ramgarh, Kathua but the final test which is known as ELISA is only carried out in Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital, Jammu. Earlier, the state health department had put a ban on Rapid serology test i.e.NS1 for diagnosing Dengue by clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and clinical establishments and recommended National Institute of Virology Kit commonly known as ELISA test to confirm Dengue. The department asked the citizens to keep their surroundings clean and not allow water to collect anywhere in their vicinity. It also formed three teams to constantly monitor the situation.