Mumbai News: City Sees A Steep Rise In Dengue Cases

The city has witnessed a 49% rise in dengue cases, detected between July 1 to 8 compared to cases reported in the whole month of July last year. As per the data, in the first eight days of July, 91 dengue cases were recorded in Mumbai compared to 61 in July 2022. On average number of dengue cases per day has increased from 2 to 11.

Meanwhile, the state has witnessed 709 dengue cases this year from January to July 7, compared to 184 recorded during the same period last year.

Dengue raises its ugly hood

“Dengue has increased much earlier than it normally does. We usually see cases by the end of July. Many patients are required to be hospitalised for the same due to the low platelet count,” said a senior official from the civic health department. He said all have symptoms of high-grade fever of about 102 degrees, chills, body aches, and rashes.

Meanwhile, Dr Sudhakar Shinde, the additional municipal commissioner, convened a special meeting of the public health department and directed to carry out an anti-dengue malaria campaign. Under the campaign, the civic health department has been asked to search for patients with symptoms of dengue and malaria and conduct medical tests if there are symptoms.

Preventive measures to avoid dengue

Dr Shinde also has directed all the Covid war rooms to be active for the prevention of dengue, malaria and other monsoon ailments.Dr Daksha Shah, executive health officer, said the BMC is implementing the standard operating procedures they followed during Covid-19 for the same.

“We have implemented a malaria detection campaign in collaboration with private hospitals/clinics, private laboratories, and private physicians. If a malaria case is detected in an area, we perform house to house survey of 250 houses around it. In case anyone has a fever, our team immediately sends blood samples for testing. If the sample tests positive, we put the person on treatment,” she said.

List of viral and bacterial diseases

July 1 July 8

Dengue. 91. 61

Gastro. 474. 679

Malaria. 156. 563

Lepto. 65. 29

Hepititis. 34. 65

H1N1. 34. 105

Chikungunya 05. 02

Published on: Tuesday, July 11, 2023, 11:55 PM IST