Decline in number of dengue cases at year end: Report

New Delhi: With the dengue menace gripping almost every nook and corner of the nation in 2017, there has been a sigh of relief towards the culmination of the year.

A municipal report has claimed that there has been a fall in the number dengue cases over the last week.     

As per the report, only 18 dengue cases were reported over the last week.

The total number of people affected by the disease this year in the national capital till December 23 stands at 9,232.

The total number of people affected by the disease in Delhi till December 16 was 9,214.

The numbers of malaria and chikungunya cases recorded this year in the same period stood at 1,140 and 934 respectively, the report said.

Of the 9,232 dengue cases this year, 4,711 patients were from Delhi, while 4,521 had come to the city from other states for treatment, the report said.

Cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between mid-July and November-end but this period may stretch up to mid-December.

This year, however, the disease had spread much earlier.

The mosquito-borne tropical disease had claimed its first victim in the city this year on August 1, when a 12-year-old boy died of dengue shock syndromes at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH).

Three more deaths were reported in October by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) which tabulates the data for the entire city.

The civic body, however, is yet to acknowledge two fatalities at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital and the death of a boy at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital as due to the vector-borne disease.

The number of dengue cases recorded in the city stood at 2,022 in October, while 816 cases were reported last month. Sixty-six cases were reported this month, till December 23, the report said.

Dengue and chikungunya are caused by the aedes aegypti mosquito which breeds in clean water. The female anopheles mosquito, which causes malaria, breeds in both clean and muddy water.

According to the SDMC, mosquito breeding was reported from 2,11,819 Delhi households till December 23.

The number of cases recorded in areas falling under the north, south and east Delhi municipal corporations stood at 705, 705 and 426 respectively.

At least 21 dengue deaths were reported last year from various city hospitals, including nine at the AIIMS, though the official figure of the civic bodies was 10.

Seventeen deaths, suspected to be due to malaria, were also reported by the civic bodies last year.

At least 15 fatalities were reported from various city hospitals last year due to complications triggered by chikungunya, though the civic authorities had kept the death tally at zero.

One of the worst chikungunya outbreaks in the national capital was in 2016, when 12,221 cases were reported till December 24. Of these, 9,749 were confirmed.

(With Agency inputs)