32% increase in cases in 1 week.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW DELHI: As the US grapples with the fear of more Ebola cases surfacing, the national capital here seems to be in the grip of a vector-borne virus: dengue.
There has been an increase of nearly 32 per cent in dengue cases in New Delhi and its suburbs, in the past one week, taking the total number of cases reported this season to 158, reported the Press Trust of India.
A total of 158 cases has been reported in Delhi till October 11, while the figure stood at 120 till October 7, according to a report released by South Delhi Municipal Corporation, on Tuesday.
The figures for various corporations in Delhi are: 27 (north corporation), 63 (south corporation) and 22 (east corporation), 29 cases were reported from regions in Delhi outside the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations and 17 from neighboring states, the report said.
The disease has claimed one victim – Rishi Qaddafi, an eight-year-old boy from Srinagar who resided in south Delhi. He died of dengue at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
Over 5,500 dengue cases and six deaths were registered in the national capital last year, according to SDMC, which compiles report for vector-borne diseases in the city.
Delhi had witnessed a large number of dengue cases in 2010, with over 6,200 cases. In 2009, 1,153 cases were registered, over 1,300 cases in 2008, 1,131 cases in 2011 and 2,093 cases in 2012
A recent study had pegged the cases of dengue in India at a much higher rate than previously reported.
The report said the annual average of 20,000 laboratory confirmed cases of dengue in India may be just the tip of the iceberg as far as the mosquito-borne fever disease is concerned: the actual number may be actually a startling six million cases.
Read that report here: http://www.americanbazaaronline.com/2014/10/07/6-million-dengue-cases-india-annually-says-study/
The study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene estimates that the dengue fever cases in India is 282 times higher than officially reported, and the disease inflicts an economic burden on the country of at least $1.11 billion each year in medical and other expenses.
India is believed to have more cases of dengue than any other country in the world, and except for a slight dip in 2011, the incidence rate has grown steadily there in recent years. In 2013, India’s National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program reported that the country had experienced an annual average of 20,474 dengue cases and 132 dengue-related deaths since 2007. India had a major dengue outbreak in 2013, with more than 55,000 reported cases, triggered largely by the heaviest rains in two decades.