3 new dengue cases reported last week, total 9 cases so far

With three new cases of dengue reported previous week, the total number of cases have raised drastically as nine people have already been diagnosed this year, according to a data released by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation on Monday.

On the other hand, the total number of people affected by malaria is two while the figure for chikungunya stands at three.

Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between mid-July and November-end but this period may stretch up to mid-December. Three cases of vector borne diseases have been reported till March 3. According to the SDMC, mosquito breeding was reported from 3564790 Delhi households till March 3.

At least 10 people died in Delhi due to dengue last year, according to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which tabulates the data for the entire city. Five of the 10 victims were not Delhi residents, but had died in the national Capital. The mosquito-borne tropical disease had claimed its first victim in the city last year on August 1, when a 12-year-old boy died of dengue shock syndromes at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH). Three more deaths were reported in October by the SDMC.

The vector-borne disease had affected 9,271 people in the national capital in 2017.The numbers of malaria and chikungunya cases recorded in 2017 stood at 1,142 and 940 respectively. Of the 9,271 dengue cases, 4,726 patients were from Delhi, while 4,545 had come to the city from other states for treatment, according to the SDMC’s last report.

In 2016, at least 21 dengue deaths were reported from various city hospitals, including nine at AIIMS, though the official figure of the civic bodies was 10. Seventeen deaths, suspected to be due to malaria, were also reported by the civic bodies in 2016.

Dengue and chikungunya are caused by the aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in clean water. The female anopheles mosquito, which causes malaria, breeds in both clean and muddy water.