First four dengue cases reported

Monsoon mess has made its presence felt in the city as the Gurgaon health department registered this year’s first four confirmed cases of dengue. Out of five samples sent for tests, four were confirmed positive on Wednesday. Himabindu Reddy reports.

Monsoon mess has made its presence felt in the city as the Gurgaon health department registered this year’s first four confirmed cases of dengue.

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Out of five samples sent for tests, four were confirmed positive on Wednesday.

According to the records of the department, the cases were reported from Medanta - The Medicity, Artemis Health Sciences and Alchemist hospital.

“We have registered four cases in the past one week. On Wednesday, we tested five samples and four were positive,” said Dr Mahinder Gupta, deputy civil surgeon.

All patients belong to the age group of 29 to 31 years. “One of them is a woman,” said an official at the department.

Interestingly, all cases were reported from posh residential localities in Gurgaon’s Sector 23, DLF City Phase 3 and South City-1.

Last year, when the spread of dengue had reached its peak, the authorities had identified these localities as dengue hot-spots in the Millennium City.

Meanwhile, the health department has put the malaria count at 50 till now.

“Monsoon has just begun. The number of cases is likely to increase in the coming days,” said Dr Vishal Sehgal, head of emergency and in-patient services at Artemis Health Sciences.

The month of July, globally observed as dengue month, is when vector-borne diseases take off as the temperatures are conducive.

With the humidity ranging from 60% to 80% and temperature at 16-30 degrees Celsius, these diseases reach their peak in August.

Along with dengue and malaria, hospitals have also reported a surge in cases of viral fever, typhoid and malaria. And city doctors feel poor sanitation will worsen the situation in the coming days.

“The public health system here (Gurgaon) is very poor. This disease (dengue) can be controlled only through active participation by both residents and authorities,” said Dr SP Yadav, managing director of Pushpanjali hospital.