Mumbai: 5 die of dengue in September, monsoon diseases have killed 23 this year

MUMBAI: Monsoon diseases claimed 23 lives this year with leptospirosis and dengue emerging as the leading killers. While the withdrawal of monsoon is likely to bring respite from leptospirosis, doctors say dengue cases will continue to rise till November. The city already accounts for 50% of dengue deaths in the state so far this year.
The BMC’s health report, released on Thursday, states that the 12 lives claimed by leptospirosis, nine by dengue and two by malaria this monsoon is a decline from 2017 when 30 lives were lost to these diseases.Leptospirosis deaths, though, have nearly doubled since last year, though the majority of hospitalisations this year were for dengue. In September alone, the mosquito-borne disease contributed to 5,000 hospitalisations in the public sector and through the monsoon 3,000-4,000 admissions were due to dengue-like illnesses.

The bi-weekly BMC report said there were five dengue deaths in September compared with three in August and one in July.
The latest deaths were spread across all age groups and areas in the city, including Walkeshwar, Kandivli East, Kumbharwada, Agripada and Malad. The Walkeshwar victim was a 42-year-old Raj Bhavan employee who lived on the campus. The BMC said the deceased had a history of travel to London in the first week of September.
By the time she was hospitalized on September 20, she had already been suffering from fever with chills and body ache and nausea for four to five days. She died of dengue shock syndrome with multi-organ failure. Similarly, the Kandivli victim, a 13-year-old boy, was transferred to a public hospital after undergoing treatment at a private
centre. He too had four to five days of fever and was admitted with liver, kidney failure and low platelet count.
He died within two days of hospitalisation. The 58-year-old victim from Kumbharwada in Dharavi had underlying diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism. The civic report said she died of cardiorespiratory failure with breathing distress.
The 42-year-old Agripada resident had died within a few hours of hospitalization. The death committee found that even though he was advised hospitalisation after a low platelet count, he chose to stay home. Dengue fever has been raging not just in Mumbai but across the state. A state official said that over 6,000 confirmed cases have been recorded till the end of September. “Mumbai has recorded 50% of the deaths in Maharashtra. Dengue fever will continue to affect till November,” said the official. A BMC official said that inspections were carried out across 6.5 lakh households, of which breeding of aedes aegypti was found in nearly 5,000. Breeding of malaria-causing anopheles mosquito was found only in 375 places.
The 58-year-old victim from Kumbharwada in Dharavi had underlying diabetes, hypertension and hypothyroidism. The civic report said that she died of cardiorespiratory failure with breathing distress. The 42-year-old Agripada resident had died within a few hours of hospitalisation. The death committee found that even though he was advised hospitalisation after a low platelet count, he chose to stay home.
Dengue fever has been raging not just in Mumbai but across the state. A state official said that over 6000 confirmed cases have been recorded till the end of September. “Mumbai has recorded 50% of the deaths in Maharashtra. Dengue fever will continue to affect till November,” said the official. A BMC official said that inspections were carried out across 6.50lakh households, of which breeding of aedes aegypti was found in nearly 5000. Breeding of malaria-causing anopheles mosquito was found only in 375 places, which substantiates the claims of a substantial decline in malaria cases and deaths.