E-Paper
Pune civic body sees sharp fall in mosquito-related infections in 2020-21 than previous year
Experts believe that the welcome figure could probably be because of the increased attention to hygiene or under-reporting of cases
With the city battling Covid cases, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) environmental report for 2021, released on Friday, finds fewer cases of mosquito-related infections in 2020-21 as compared to the previous year. The report states that the number of dengue, malaria and chikungunya cases fell drastically compared to the previous year. Experts believe that the welcome figure could probably be because of the increased attention to hygiene or under-reporting of cases.
As per the report, the number of dengue cases fell from 183 patients in 2020 to 31 in 2021, malaria cases dropped from 6 to just one and chikungunya cases dropped from 74 to 11 as of March 2021. The PMC health department said that they have not reported a single case of swine flu this year. All these diseases are spread via mosquitoes.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health officer said, “The number of these monsoon-related ailments has fallen sharply, and no swine flu cases has been reported till date this year. This could be because people are more conscience about hygiene and health during Covid times.”
Dr Sanjay Dabhade, public health expert who runs an NGO Jan Aarogya Manch, which works in the field of public health said, “Concrete evidence is needed to prove co-relation between Covid and these other epidemic causing diseases. There could be broader reasons for this fall, including under-reporting of cases or even that people are not reporting these flu-like symptoms fearing isolation or hospitalisations due to covid and are resorting to self-medication or are not seeking medical advice.”
PMC sees fewer cases of mosquito-related infections in 2020-21 as compared to the previous year
Disease/2019/2020/2021
Chikungunya/741/74/11
Malaria/0/6/1
Dengue/1407/183/31
*Source: PMC environment report
