Suspected dengue death reported at AIIMS, panel set to review case

Municipal officials said Delhi has seen fewer cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria this year compared to the same period in previous years. The MCDs have reported 69 cases of dengue in Delhi residents to date.

A case of a likely dengue death was reported from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) last week, officials from East Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (EDMC) heath department said. If confirmed, this would be this year’s first death from dengue.

Officials said that last week, a woman was suspected to have died of dengue at AIIMS. The case has been reported to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and is currently under review by a committee.(File Photo)

“Last week, a woman was suspected to have died of dengue at AIIMS. The case has been reported to the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and is currently under review by a committee,” said a senior health official from the corporation.

For any dengue death reported in Delhi, a “death review committee” is set up by the area’s respective municipal corporation that goes through the case documents to confirm whether it was a dengue death. The case is likely to be added to next weekly report by the corporation.

The death was independently confirmed by an official at AIIMS, on condition of anonymity.

Municipal officials said the city has seen fewer cases of dengue, chikungunya and malaria this year compared to the same period in previous years. The MCDs have reported 69 cases of dengue in Delhi residents to date. This is comparison to 325 cases that had been reported in people from Delhi last year in the corresponding period.

In 2015, when Delhi had its worst dengue outbreak that killed 60 and affect nearly 16,000 people, 262 cases had been reported in the corresponding period.

Officials said that though they expect a spike in cases of vector-borne diseases due to the rains in Delhi over the past few weeks, they said the number of dengue cases are likely to not cross the number of cases reported previous years.

“If you look at the data for all the outbreak years, sporadic rains started in the city from March-April, leading to an explosion in the mosquito population. However, this year because Delhi had been relatively dry till the monsoons arrived the breeding was less,” said the senior MCD health official.

“And, even if the numbers start picking up, now that the rains have come, the season is shorter — just two months, till November. Also, the same mild strain of dengue that had been in circulation for the last two years, DENV 3, is in circulation this year as well. So, the numbers will still be lower than previous years,” the official said.

This year, higher number of malaria cases are being reported from Delhi, with 131 cases in Delhi residents to date, according to the data by the corporations. Another 119 cases were reported in people from neighbouring states who had come to Delhi for treatment. However, the number is still less than the same period last year when 215 cases were reported in Delhi residents and another 238 in people from neighbouring states.