Dengue claims its first victim in Delhi ; cases reach 657

New Delhi, August 21 (PTI): A 12-year-old boy has succumbed to dengue, the first death due to the vector-borne disease reported in the city this season, municipal authorities said today.
“The boy, identified as Nitish Kumar, hailed from Bihar and was residing in Safdarjung area in south Delhi. He died at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital,” South Delhi Mayor Kamaljeet Sehrawat told PTI.
This is the first dengue death reported this year in the national capital, where people have been battling the sting of malaria and chikungunya too.
“The boy was brought to the hospital in a very bad condition and died on August 1 of dengue shock syndrome and resulting multiple-organ failure,” Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), S P Byotra told PTI.
Paediatrician Anil Sachdeva said, “The boy had a lot of fluid collection in his chest and abdomen. He also suffered kidney failure. We had put him on a ventilator as soon as he was brought to the hospital.”
In dengue shock syndrome, the blood pressure drops and body fluids travel to other parts of the organ, which may results in organ failure, Byotra said. In case of dengue haemorrhagic fever, patients suffer internal or external bleeding through teeth, urine or stool due to fall in platelets level.
Dengue symptoms include high fever and pain in the joints.
The hospital authorities said 59 cases of dengue have been reported at the facility between July 1 and August 16.
“203 cases of swine flu and two deaths due to it have also been reported in the same period.”
Sachdeva said three swine flu patients were admitted at the intensive care unit (ICU). “One of them, an infant boy, also has dengue infection,” he said.
At least 657 people have been affected by dengue this season in the city, according to a municipal report released today. At least 153 cases of the disease have been reported this month till August 19.
Of the 657 dengue cases, 325 affected people were residents of Delhi, while the rest of the cases diagnosed here were traced to other states.
The number of people affected by malaria this year till August 19 has climbed to 412, while the figure for chikungunya stands at 311. Safdarjung falls under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and at least 64 dengue cases have been reported in south Delhi municipal areas.
Vector-borne diseases are reported between mid-July and November-end. Cases of all the three vector-borne diseases were reported much earlier this time, which doctors had attributed to early arrival of the monsoon.
Dengue and chikungunya are caused by aedes agypti mosquito, which breeds in clear water. Anopheles mosquito, which causes malaria, can breed in both fresh and muddy water.
According to the report, breeding of mosquitoes has been reported at 1,16,365 households in Delhi. All the three municipal corporations have stepped up awareness drives — distributing pamphlets and plying vehicles with loudspeakers issuing dos and don’ts for prevention of the diseases.
The city government has banned over-the-counter sale of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and brufen as their use may “pose a threat” to dengue and chikungunya patients.
At least 21 deaths due to dengue were reported last year at various hospitals, including nine at AIIMS, though the official tally of the civic bodies stood at 10. Seventeen deaths suspected to be due to malaria in 2016 were also reported by the civic bodies.
At least 15 fatalities were reported last year at various hospitals in the city due to complications triggered by chikungunya, though the civic bodies have kept the death tally at zero.
In one of the worst outbreaks, a total of 12,221 chikungunya cases were reported in Delhi till December 24, 2016, out of which 9,749 were confirmed.