As cases of dengue in the Capital witness a dip in numbers with temperatures dropping, this season’s caseload and death toll (till December 11) — which stands at 9,260 and 15 respectively — remains the highest since 2015 when the city recorded 15,867 cases and 60 deaths.
While the official death toll for the current season stands at 15, a senior official at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which is also the nodal agency for data collection, confirmed, “There are more deaths due to dengue, and they are yet to be declared because these cases are under investigation.”
On November 7, The Hindu reported that three dengue deaths — according to the documents accessed — at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital were not reported by the civic authorities. Previously, a senior official at the hospital had confirmed that “at least one death of a Delhi resident” due to the vector-borne disease was recorded at the hospital. According to a civic report, as of December 11, none of the 15 victims was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital.
Awareness campaigns
While the Delhi Government’s 10-week-long anti-dengue initiative — titled ‘10 Hafte 10 Baje 10 Minute’ which first kicked off in 2019 — was aimed at building awareness among people and to help prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases, doctors in the city said that the prolonged rain this season was among the “prime reasons” for the increase caseload this year.
Delhi’s three municipal corporations — North, South and East — had also announced heightened sanitation and fogging drives as a response to the surge in cases. However, according to Sanjay Mintoo, nodal officer for vector-borne diseases at the city’s Kasturba Hospital, awareness campaigns serve as a “larger solution”.
“Dengue mosquitoes breed in clean water, so sanitation drives do not serve as a complete solution. It is unlikely that authorities can enter every household and check stagnant water where breeding is possible. That is why creating awareness and public education can help solve the spread of the disease because it is the people who need to keep a watch within their households,” said Mr. Mintoo.
According to S.P. Byotra, senior consultant and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Ganga Ram Hospital, the vector-borne disease (dengue) has a cyclic trend which can lead to an increased surge in cases “every three to four years”.
He added, “The dengue virus has four serotypes, and an infected person is immune to the serotype that he or she is infected with after they recover. But that does not mean that they are immune to the other serotypes. Apart from the rain, there is a high possibility that the increased breeding this season brought along a spread of multiple variants which was very rare to come across in the last two years.”
This season, north Delhi recorded the highest number of cases at 2,587, followed by south Delhi with 2,493 cases and east Delhi with 1,090 cases. More than half of Delhi’s dengue cases for this season were recorded in November — 6,739 cases; prior to which the caseload for the season stood at 1,537.
‘Backlog cases’
A senior SDMC official said the increased caseload in November included “backlog cases from hospitals” which came to light only after vector-borne diseases were notified by the Delhi Government under the Epidemic Diseases Act.
“During the early stages of this year’s COVID-19 lockdown, our officials did not get easy access to check smaller pockets where mosquito breeding was taking place. Another reason for the spike was also that two to three serotypes of the virus were circulating simultaneously, which led to more cross infections and serious cases. Many patients from the NCR region had also come to Delhi for treatment which added to the patient load at the hospitals,” the senior SDMC official said.
“I will agree to some extent that case reporting in the country is not regular unless the situation intensifies. The dengue deaths are possibly higher than what the official count states; there are smaller pockets in the city where cases are not recorded regularly and I feel there is under-reporting,” said Dr. Byotra.
With the Capital recording 285 cases of dengue and no deaths over the past week (till December 11), according to a civic report, doctors and civic body officials stated that cases will further dip as low temperatures are not suitable for mosquito breeding. However, Mr. Mintoo emphasised that creating public awareness will serve “as the core solution” to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.
He added, “The Government and civic authorities have a proper system in place, and despite a few shortcomings, they are able to execute their duties to a certain extent. But unless the public is not educated, nothing much will change. Something as small as ensuring that there is no water collection in cooler trays and small pots goes a long way in preventing mosquito breeding.”
Published - December 20, 2021 12:45 am IST
