THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Kerala recorded the highest number of dengue cases and resultant deaths in the country last year.
According to ‘EnviStats India 2024’, published recently by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the state registered 9,770 cases and 37 deaths in 2023. Inadequate sanitation is among the reasons for the spread of the disease, the report said.
Uttarakhand was second in the list of dengue deaths, with 14 fatalities, followed by Bihar, with seven. The number of dengue cases in Kerala doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year’s 4,432. With 29 deaths, Kerala was in the fifth position among the states in 2022.
Of the 565 malaria cases reported in Kerala, 299 were caused by the most fatal plasmodium falciparum parasite. With seven deaths, Kerala recorded the fourth-highest number of fatalities in the country. This translated to 10% of the total malaria deaths in the country (72).
The report provides state-wise data on nine diseases “closely linked to inadequate sanitation and hazardous environment”. With 1131 chikungunya cases Kerala was in the ninth position among 35 states and UTs. Chikungunya cases showed an alarming rise in the state, from 78 in 2017. The number peaked to 3030 in 2021 and declined to 1131 last year.
For six other diseases, the report had data until 2021. In that year, Kerala was the only state where acute respiratory infection (ARI) was not reported. As many as 1.73 crore cases and 9872 deaths were reported in the country and Rajasthan topped the list with 36.5 lakh cases. Typhoid cases in Kerala showed a steep decline from 18,440 in 2020 to 30 in 2021. The state recorded the second lowest number of cases after Lakshadweep, 22. Kerala is among the ten states/UTs in the country “still grappling with cholera - the severe diarrhoeal disease”.
