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A 12-year-old boy has succumbed to dengue — the first death due to the vector-borne disease reported in the city this season — official data released by the MCD revealed on Monday. The boy, who was admitted to a Delhi hospital on July 30, died on August 1, officials confirmed. Officials at Sir Gangaram Hospital said the boy, who hailed from Bihar and resided in south Delhi’s Humayunpur area, was admitted to the intensive care unit (paediatric division) at the hospital after he tested positive for dengue. “He succumbed due to Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF),” a hospital official said.
Dengue has four serotypes. Type 2 — which causes thrombocytopenia or drop in platelets, haemorrhagic fever, organ failure and Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS) — is considered the most common cause of DHF. The latest data also revealed that at least 734 cases of mosquito-borne infections have been reported in the capital in the week ending August 19. An alarming 47 per cent of the total dengue cases reported in the city this year were during the first 19 days of August.
This week, Delhi reported 73 cases of dengue, of which the maximum number of cases (16) were reported from areas under the SDMC. An additional 87 cases were reported in Delhi where the patient acquired the infection from outside the state. According to the data, 50 cases of malaria have been reported this month, including 11 this week. The data also revealed that 194 cases of chikungunya have been reported in the city this year. Twenty fresh cases of the infection were reported this week alone.
