Ghaziabad: Dengue cases double in nine days, tally highest since 2017

The number of people infected with dengue fever has crossed 200-mark so far this month in the district, with the last 100 cases reported in the past nine days, according to figures of the district health department

The number of people infected with dengue fever has crossed 200-mark so far this month in the district, with the last 100 cases reported in the past nine days, according to figures of the district health department. The district took 15 days to reach first 100 cases on September 15, the data showed.

Dengue patients admitted in the dengue ward at the Combined District Hospital in Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad. (Sakib Ali/HT photo)

On Saturday, Ghaziabad, that saw its first dengue case this year on September 1, reported 17 new cases, taking the tally to 222 in the district.

Health department officials said the trend will continue and cases are likely to subside in the last week October.

A 45-year-old woman, a resident of Sanjay Nagar, was suspected to have died of dengue but the hospital, where she was admitted, was not able to provide a report confirming the infection.

“The woman got admitted to the hospital on September 19 and later put on ventilator support in ICU. She died on September 24 with cause of death as cardiac arrest and sceptic shock. The hospital has been asked to provide a dengue confirmatory report, but it has not been able to provide the report yet. We also asked the state officials, but they said that it will not be treated as death due to dengue without a confirmatory report from the lab,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, district surveillance officer.

In the past nine days, the district has also reported 10 cases of scrub typhus, taking the tally to 39, while it added two more malaria cases (total 15) during the same period. Scrub typhus is caused by a bacterium called Orientia tsutsugamushi and the disease spreads to people through bites of infected larval mites.

“The cases of dengue have increased while the cases of scrub typhus have shown a declining trend. With anti-larvae and fogging activities going on extensively, we have been able to curb malaria cases to a large extent. Since the monsoon season is still on with frequent rains, it is likely that the cases of dengue and malaria will subside by the end of October,” said Gupta.

“We may continue with our fogging and anti-larvae drives in the first two-three weeks of October,” Dr Gupta added.

Officials said the dengue cases reported so far in Ghaziabad are the highest since 2017 when the district had recorded a total of 232 such cases.

According to the data, the rate of hospitalisation of dengue patients is 76.09%, while it is 87.17% in cases of scrub typhus.

Experts said that the cases of dengue seem to have reached their peak and likely to subside as the monsoon activity reduces in coming weeks.

“We can say that the dengue cases have almost reached their peak. However, this year frequent rains and subsequent waterlogging in several parts of the district have complicated the situation,” said Dr Ashish Agarwal, president of Indian Medical Association (Ghaziabad chapter).

“Besides, cases of viral fever continue to emerge. It has been over one month that such cases have kept on coming,” Dr Agarwal added.