Dengue on the rise
Mumbai has recorded a rise in dengue in September, with 86 cases recorded, including the death of a 43-year-old Lower Parel resident (he died on September 12), the second person to succumb to the mosquito-borne disease this year.
Transmitted by aedes aegypti mosquito, the disease has infected nearly 400 people this year. The doctors said that September has seen almost double the number of dengue cases they see in the previous months. Last year in September, there were 167 dengue cases (90 cases till the third week of the month, compared to 86 this year).
This year, there is an increased panic as far as dengue is concerned, with Delhi reeling under a dengue outbreak and an outrage after the suicide of a Delhi couple following their baby’s death due to the disease. In Mumbai, however, the civic body has said that the disease is “under control”.
The civic body terms patients testing positive with a rapid test as ‘suspected dengue’, and those testing positive with the ELISA test as ‘confirmed dengue’.
Senior physician Dr Partit Samdani, who consults in several south Mumbai hospitals, said that he has seen 30 dengue patients in the last 10 days. “In most cases, the virus has affected the liver, leading to a condition called dengue hepatitis,” Samdani said.
Another physician, Dr Hemant Gupta, who practices at JJ Hospital, Bombay Hospital and Wockhardt Hospital, said that he has admitted 25 dengue patients in the last two weeks, of which at least eight were suffering from a combination of malaria and dengue.
The situation is similar in the suburbs, with most hospitals and nursing homes flooded with dengue cases. The civic-run Shatabdi hospital in Kandivali has 10 patients admitted with dengue fever. “We are getting a lot of fever patients, of which many are testing positive for dengue,” Dr M Budhkar, medical superintendent at Shatabdi Hospital, said.
Dr Harish Bhatt from Nityanand Nursing Home in Andheri (W) said that he has admitted at least one dengue patient every day since September 1. “At present we have five patients of which one is in the intensive care unit,” he said. Of the 1,504 dengue breeding sites identified in the city, 1,350 were located in non-slum areas, and merely 154 were found in slums. Civic officials say that the city's middle-class and the affluent will have to take the onus of reducing the dengue menace.
“Several middle-class and affluent households use a lot of ornamental plants such as Feng Shui bamboo trees, money plants, etc which are one of the main sources of mosquito breeding,” an official from the BMC’s Pesticide Department said, adding that awareness activities have been carried out in various areas to educate people about dengue breeding.
The BMC has also displayed live specimens of mosquitoes at the Mount Mary Fair in Bandra and more than 1,000 people were sensitised about the dengue breeding. Besides plants, dengue mosquitoes could breed in unused containers in balconies and windows, tarpaulin sheets, and water storage drums.
Transmitted by aedes aegypti mosquito, the disease has infected nearly 400 people this year. The doctors said that September has seen almost double the number of dengue cases they see in the previous months. Last year in September, there were 167 dengue cases (90 cases till the third week of the month, compared to 86 this year).
This year, there is an increased panic as far as dengue is concerned, with Delhi reeling under a dengue outbreak and an outrage after the suicide of a Delhi couple following their baby’s death due to the disease. In Mumbai, however, the civic body has said that the disease is “under control”.
“We are definitely seeing more number of cases of suspected dengue in the last few weeks. These are people coming with fever, with all the symptoms of dengue such as muscle pain and rashes,” BMC’s epidemiologist Dr Minni Khetarpal said, adding that it is very typical for dengue to rise during this period every year.
The civic body terms patients testing positive with a rapid test as ‘suspected dengue’, and those testing positive with the ELISA test as ‘confirmed dengue’.
Senior physician Dr Partit Samdani, who consults in several south Mumbai hospitals, said that he has seen 30 dengue patients in the last 10 days. “In most cases, the virus has affected the liver, leading to a condition called dengue hepatitis,” Samdani said.
Another physician, Dr Hemant Gupta, who practices at JJ Hospital, Bombay Hospital and Wockhardt Hospital, said that he has admitted 25 dengue patients in the last two weeks, of which at least eight were suffering from a combination of malaria and dengue.
The situation is similar in the suburbs, with most hospitals and nursing homes flooded with dengue cases. The civic-run Shatabdi hospital in Kandivali has 10 patients admitted with dengue fever. “We are getting a lot of fever patients, of which many are testing positive for dengue,” Dr M Budhkar, medical superintendent at Shatabdi Hospital, said.
Dr Harish Bhatt from Nityanand Nursing Home in Andheri (W) said that he has admitted at least one dengue patient every day since September 1. “At present we have five patients of which one is in the intensive care unit,” he said. Of the 1,504 dengue breeding sites identified in the city, 1,350 were located in non-slum areas, and merely 154 were found in slums. Civic officials say that the city's middle-class and the affluent will have to take the onus of reducing the dengue menace.
“Several middle-class and affluent households use a lot of ornamental plants such as Feng Shui bamboo trees, money plants, etc which are one of the main sources of mosquito breeding,” an official from the BMC’s Pesticide Department said, adding that awareness activities have been carried out in various areas to educate people about dengue breeding.
The BMC has also displayed live specimens of mosquitoes at the Mount Mary Fair in Bandra and more than 1,000 people were sensitised about the dengue breeding. Besides plants, dengue mosquitoes could breed in unused containers in balconies and windows, tarpaulin sheets, and water storage drums.
