NEW DELHI: Amidst a surge in dengue cases, Delhi registered its first death caused by the vector-borne disease this year. The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which is the nodal agency for tabulating the weekly data related to dengue, malaria and chikungunya, stated on Monday that one person succumbed to dengue late last month.
The deceased, a 35-year-old woman from Sarita Vihar, was admitted to Holy Family Hospital on September 20 with a lowered SpO2 level. A few days later, her condition deteriorated and she was shifted to ICU. She died on September 26.
Last year, a total of 1,072 dengue cases were registered in the city, with one death being reported. In 2019, two people had succumbed to the disease while in 2018 the fatality count was four. Ten people had died each in 2017 and 2016.So far, Delhi has registered 723 cases dengue out of which 382 have been reported in October till 16. In fact, 243 fresh cases have been logged in one week (October 10-16).
Serotype 2 predominant dengue strain this yr: Doc
While the Delhi government and the civic agencies are working on tackling the dengue, experts say surge in cases this year is owing to late monsoon departure and the breeding of mosquitoes happening in October. “Usually the breeding starts in July and mid-August but this time, due to weather/ climatic changes, breeding happened in September as we saw heavy downpour last month.
There has been more water stagnation. Earlier, by October the dengue season would end,” said Dr Ashish Khattar Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, Venkateshwar Hospital. Dr Ashutosh Biswas, Professor, Medicine, AIIMS-Delhi, noted that a person remains at higher risk of being infected with dengue for the second time as a new strain may attack the body again and may develop serious symptoms.
“There are four variants/ strains of dengue. The predominant strain in Delhi this year is serotype 2. If a new strain is attacking a human body, then one may develop serious symptoms. It is called antibody dependent enhancement. The same strain is unlikely to affect the same person,” added Dr Biswas.
According to the SDMC report, 142 cases of malaria and 69 cases of chikungunya have also been reported till October 16 this year in Delhi. A total of 1,072 dengue cases was logged in the entire year in 2020, according to its report. The number of cases reported for the January 1-October 16 period in the previous three years were — 395 (2020), 644 (2019) and 1020 (2018). The total cases reported in the previous years were 4,431 (2016), 4,726 (2017), 2,798 (2018) and 2,036 (2019).