Delhi stung by 412 cases of chikungunya in a week

NEW DELHI: More than 400 cases of chikungunya were recorded in Delhi in the past week, health officials said on Monday, as the mosquito-borne disease that causes

NEW DELHI: More than 400 cases of chikungunya were recorded in Delhi in the past week, health officials said on Monday, as the mosquito-borne disease that causes debilitating joint pain threatened to replace dengue as the Capital’s most widespread monsoon ailment.

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Officials said 412 new cases of chikungunya were reported last week, taking the total this year to 432. The same period saw 176 new dengue cases, taking the number to 487 this year. Two of them have died.

Though both diseases are spread by the day-biting aedes aegypti mosquito, fatalities are rare in chikungunya and patients hardly need hospitalisation. Besides acute joint pain and swelling, the disease also causes fever.

“It’s not an outbreak but an unusually high number of cases because of a high pool of people infected and low immunity as people in Delhi have not been exposed to the infection,” said Dr DK Seth, municipal health officer.

In south Delhi’s upscale Jaunapur, chikungunya has hit almost every home. Chartered accountant Manjit Singh Kalha, 41, said he couldn’t get out of bed for four days since August 20.

“The pain was unbearable and I could not work for more than a week,” he said. At his neighbour’s farm too, three people are down.

Shivani Wazir, joint secretary of the Jaunapur Residents’ Welfare Association blamed “uncleared garbage dump sand low-lying land full of rainwater” for the disease.

The Municipal Council of Delhi, however, accused hospitals of reporting cases late .“The data is not real time. Hospitals send data after a person has been treated and discharged, so backlog cases are added all at once,” said a health official. Delhi reported 176 fresh cases of dengue in a week (till Saturday), taking the total to 487.

As many as 831 cases were reported during the same period in 2015 -- the worst outbreak year in Delhi with 16,000 cases and 60 deaths.

In a report released on Monday, the municipal corporations also confirmed 412 cases of chikungunya.

Of the 487 cases, 368 were reported in August. Last year, there was a sudden spike in the number of cases from 36 in July, to 778 in August.

This year, a disproportionately high number of people affected by dengue have been pouring into Delhi for treatment. Of the 487 cases, 285 are from Delhi and 202 from neighbouring states. Last year’s data shows that only 71 of the 831 cases reported were from outside Delhi.

The report show that the number of deaths remained the same as the previous week – two. However, the Hindustan Times independently confirmed five dengue deaths. The latest case was that of an 18-year-old from Shaheen Bagh, Okhla, on Sunday at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. “He passed away due to dengue shock syndrome,” the hospital confirmed.

The death of a 17-year-old girl from Jafrabad, who, according to her death certificate, died of “dengue shock syndrome” at Lok Nayak hospital on July 21, and a 38-year-old woman, who died of cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure as a result of dengue haemorrhagic fever at Apollo hospital on August 12, were reported by the HT.

The disease usually peaks around the month of October, and doctors are expecting more cases in the next couple of months.

The strain circulating this year is Type 3, which is a milder strain that largely does not cause severe symptoms.

Doctors have advised people to keep themselves adequately hydrated and not resort to self-medication, and also to go for blood test before rushing to get admitted in hospital.

“Only in severe cases should they go for hospitalisation,” said Dr K K Aggarwal, secretary general, Indian Medical Association.

“Also, it is extremely important to note that platelet transfusion is only needed in dengue cases where the platelet count is less than 10,000 and there is active bleeding,” he said.

“Unnecessary platelet count can cause more harm than good. Adequate hydration is the best approach,” Dr Aggarwal said.