Mumbai: Over 2,000 suspected dengue cases in October

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In first fortnight of October, the civic health department recorded 124 confirmed dengue cases, a slight drop from September, when a deluge led to a spike in fever, dengue and malaria patients. There, however, remains a high count of suspected dengue cases in the city with 1,963 such patients admitted in various Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospitals, taking the total count of suspected cases over 2,000 with symptoms similar to the viral infection.

“We are seeing a noticeable decline in dengue incidence. It is much lower than last month or last year,” said Dr Minni Khetarpal, deputy executive health officer, BMC. She added that cases were further expected to subside in coming days.

In first 11 days of September, the BMC had recorded 102 dengue and 271 malaria cases. This month, till October 15, 124 dengue and 287 malaria cases have been recorded. Officials claim a major hurdle was posed by frequent rain showers that have made attempts to clear mosquito breeding difficult.

This year, the weather has proved to be more conducive for mosquito breeding than previous years due to unprecedented rain followed by spells of hot weather. On Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department recorded 31.6 mm rainfall in Santacruz while Colaba remained dry. Predictions by weather experts estimated a dry weather in coming days. Health officials said such erratic weather conditions help virus to multiply.

Meanwhile, the civic health department has recorded 12 leptospirosis cases, 275 gastroenteritis cases, 52 hepatitis cases and three H1N1 cases in first fortnight this month. There were 33 H1N1 cases last month.