Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]latest-news-updates/32000-cases-100-dengue-deaths-in-india-this-year-anuradha-mascarenhas-22856.html"/> LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 32,000 cases, 100 dengue deaths in India this year -Anuradha Mascarenhas | Im4change.org
Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

32,000 cases, 100 dengue deaths in India this year -Anuradha Mascarenhas
-The Indian Express


Pune: RajendraKumar, Rajkot's district collector, has had a first-hand experience of the disease his office is tracking. "On the very first day of fever, I had my blood tested to rule out dengue," he says. "I was extremely weak and had to be hospitalised in the first week of September." The districthas seen 280 cases of dengue so far this season.

InPune, National Institute of Virology deputy director Dr M S Chadda has had dengue infection earlier. In Ahmedabad, senior IPS officer Rahul Sharma's wife Sumita died in August this year, one of three victims out of 900-odd cases. And in Mumbai, the death of filmmaker Yash Chopra has created greater panic than ever that the disease can afflict anyone. Greater Mumbai has had 500 cases this year, out of over 2,600 statewide including 31 who have died.

National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme officials have counted more than 32,000 cases of dengue and 100 deaths in the country this year. Kerala has had the highest number of cases at nearly 7,000. The fatality rate is not as badas it was last year, when 240 of 50,000 cases died across the country. Dr A C Dhariwal, director of NVBDCP, points out there are guidelines on combating the disease and there is no cause for panic.

Denguedoes, however, present fresh challenges. It is no longer a cyclical problem, though that depends on where the outbreak occurs. The virus transmits itself round the year in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, while it has remained a seasonal phenomenon in the northern, central and eastern states, NVBDCP officials say. In the latter areas, transmission tends to pick up in the post-monsoon months from September to December. Dengue has become endemic with even places like Samba in Jammu having reported an outbreak; last year it was Palighat in Arunachal Pradesh, says Dr Kalpana Baruah, NVBDCP joint director.

Another challenge is that there are now four serotypes of the virus. Dr Anita Chakravarti, director of microbiology at Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, has been studying the relationship between the serotypes and says it is a challenge to prepare a vaccine. Dr Renu Bharadwaj, head of microbiology at B J Medical College, says some of the serotypes are, however, mild. It is serotypes 2 and 4 that are critical; these could lead to bleeding and a drop in the platelet count.

Doctors say symptomatic treatment is the only answer and not all cases need hospitalisation. "Patients can be easily managed at home if there is no bleeding," says Bharadwaj. Doctors say the high number of cases is also due to increased reporting.

Health Minister GhulamNabi Azad told the Lok Sabha recently there was no single reason for the increase in cases. "It is governed by various man-made and environmental factors including unprecedented growth in population, unplanned and rapid urbanisation and inadequate waste management."

DrChakravarti stresses prevention. "After the monsoon, fresh water does tend to accumulate and it is important the water should not become a breeding ground for the Aedes aegypti mosquito," she says.

InMumbai, additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar has rolled out a Rs-70-lakh campaign under which the authorities have printed threelakh posters, trained schoolchildren as health ambassadors and initiated proceedings against 290 people for neglecting mosquito breeding sites.