First dengue death, sharp spike in cases

Sixty-six cases were reported in the first week of August, taking the total number of cases in the year to 199.

The capital recorded its first dengue death on Monday, a three-year-old boy, Shivam, from Inderpuri in North Delhi.

Shivam was reportedly admitted at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on July 2. He died on July 10. But only after results of the ELISA test came that the government confirmed dengue as the cause of death, sources said. The government relies only on the ELISA test to confirm dengue as the cause of death. “His is the first official dengue death,” a North corporation spokesperson said.

A 10-year-old girl from Manipur had died on August 5 after a week of high fever, becoming the first suspected victim of dengue. But municipal corporations did not confirm that the girl, from South Delhi, died of dengue as the ELISA test was never conducted on her samples.

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Meanwhile, with heavy rains lashing the capital, the municipal corporations are reporting a sharp increase in the number of dengue cases in August.

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Sixty-six cases were reported in the first week of August, taking the total number of cases in the year to 199. This is the highest number of cases reported in a single month this year and the second highest number of cases in the last five years. A total of 11 dengue cases were reported in August 2014.

“The number of cases has gone up as conducive temperature and humidity levels are fuelling mosquito-breeding,” a civic official said.

A total of three dengue deaths were reported in 2014 while six deaths were reported in 2013. Until July 31 this year, 53 cases of dengue had been reported. The North corporation recorded 42 confirmed cases, the same as South, while the East recorded 13 cases in the first eight months of the year.

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