This story is from January 16, 2019

Dengue cases in Maharashtra up 41% in just 1 year

Dengue cases in Maharashtra up 41% in just 1 year
Representative image
MUMBAI: Dengue cases in Maharashtra were up by an unprecedented 41% in 2018 from 2017, raising questions about the measures to tackle the vector-borne disease. The state also accounted for over a third of the country’s dengue deaths last year.
maha

Confirmed cases rose to 11,011 last year from 7,829 in 2017. The spurt is significant given that the year-on-year rise between 2016 and 2017 was 16%.
The public health department said a special screening drive of 3.5 lakh people resulted in more detections. Officials also said 63% cases were recorded in urban areas where massive construction has been underway. Mumbai contributed to around 10% confirmed dengue cases.
The only good news was that deaths reduced 15% to 55 in 2018 from 65 in 2017. With 14 deaths, Mumbai accounted for one-fourth of the lives lost in Maharashtra to the viral disease that is spread by the infected aedes aegypti mosquito. Provisional national figures show that till November, Maharashtra recorded the highest deaths followed by Kerala’s 37. While statistics for the entire West Bengal is not available, Kolkata alone reported 35 deaths.
“Maharashtra has strong surveillance systems. The type of dengue that is circulating also makes a huge difference. We have seen more mortality and morbidity where virulent strains like Den 2and 4 are circulating,” said Dr A C Dhariwal, advisor, National Centre for Disease Control. Den 2 and 4 are associated with a serious manifestation, including bleeding, which may need prolonged hospitalization or even cause death. In Maharashtra, all four strains —Den 1,2,3 and 4—have been circulating since a few years. Dhariwal said the circulation of less severe strains could explain why states such as Punjab have not seen many deaths despite 14,000 cases. “Even in Delhi where Den-1 was the predominant strain, there were 6,000-plus cases but handful deaths.”

Mumbai, too, registered a big jump in hospitalizations due to dengue-like illnesses last year, though casualties marginally fell from 2017 when 17 lives were lost. BMC statistics show over 14,000 were hospitalized in 2018 due to suspected dengue against 12,913 in 2017. “In infectious diseases, dengue would be among the top two contributing to hospitalization,” said Sanjay Datta, chief of underwriting, reinsurance & claims, ICICI Lombard. Datta said control over malaria has given hope that dengue can be tamed.
A National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme official said community participation is key. However, as Dr Rajan Naringrekar, city’s infection officer, said, “Last year, we inspected a crore households in Mumbai and found rampant breeding in thousands. There’s zero community participation.”
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA