Even when the temperatures are not conducive for the breeding of dengue-carrier aedes agypti mosquitoes, menace of the vector-borne disease looms large in the city with one more person testing positive for the virus, taking this year’s total number of such cases to four.
29-year-old Ashwini, a resident of Mandaoli in east Delhi, tested positive for dengue on April 26. With this the total number of dengue cases reported this month alone is three.
The first case of dengue was reported on March 3 after a doctor from All India Institute of Medical Sciences tested positive for the disease.
“Dengue cases being reported during extreme summers and winters clearly indicates that the epidemiology of dengue fever is changing. This could also happen because of new mosquitoes or those who have tested positive are old cases,” Dr VK Monga, chairperson, public health committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi said.
A person can test positive for dengue even two months after suffering from the disease. Dengue serology can be positive even up to three months, but one has to see it in clinical terms, he said.
However, Dr Monga cautioned, “The dengue fever cases this year may rise more then the previous year as we have for the first time approved NS1 tests for confirmation of positive dengue cases. This is likely to increase the number of cases being reported.”
The epidemiology of dengue is changing here as the first case of dengue in the city was reported on March 3.
A total of three cases were reported in the month of April.
A study conducted by MCD on dengue patients in the city had found that most of the people who contracted the virus were either office goers or school going children. The reason is that coolers in offices are not cleaned as often as is done at home and thus help in mosquito breeding.
