Even as India is recovering from its battering by COVID-19, there has been a significant rise in cases of another viral disease: dengue. States across the country are seeing a spurt in cases of the disease, transmitted by the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito, and several are witnessing multiple deaths, even as hospitals fill up rapidly. As per government statistics, there have been 60,112 cases of dengue recorded in the country as of September this year, an increase from the 44,585 recorded for all of last year. Director-general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr Balram Bharagava, said last month that a majority of the deaths in parts of Uttar Pradesh were due to the D2 strain of dengue, which can cause haemorrhaging that can be fatal. On Monday, November 1, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya chaired a review meeting to take stock of the dengue situation across the country, and said expert teams were being sent to States that had seen an increase in cases.
Why has India had such bad dengue season this year? Is it linked to the delayed withdrawal of the southwest monsoon and the floods that many parts of the country experienced? Are the dengue statistics accurate or is there under-reporting and how do you tell if your symptoms are of dengue or COVID-19?
We discuss these and more in this episode.
Guest: Dr Subramanian Swaminathan, Director, Infectious Diseases, Gleneagles Global Hospital, Chennai
Host: Zubeda Hamid
