Dengue epidemic in Delhi

A dengue epidemic may be declared in the capital today, as the virus continues to spread.

3 October 2006
NEW DELHI, INDIA

The New Delhi government may declare a dengue epidemic today in the capital. In the last fifteen days, eleven people have died and so far 450 have contracted the deadly disease this year according to the health authorities. 

Said Delhi health minister Yoganand Shastri, “If the spread of the outbreak is not contained by Tuesday, we will declare it an epidemic.”

On Monday, thousands of workers spread across Delhi sprayed disinfectants and conducted random checks in houses and offices for stagnant water.

If an epidemic is declared, then the authorities may resort to fines or jail for those who do not follow health directives and allow stagnant water to accumulate.

What is most worrisome is the fact that Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has been a hotbed of dengue with 35 people including 18 medical students picking up the disease here. One doctor has died. 

The premier hospital is struggling to contain the disease and has even run out of blood. The hospital will hold a blood camp on Tuesday and Wednesday to remedy the situation. Many doctors feel that by now an epidemic should have been declared.

According to the AIIMS medical superitendent, more than 1000 cases with fever have turned up at the hospital. He added that more than 70 additional doctors will be pulled out from other duties to cope with the dengue patients. 

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has fined eight hospitals for maintaining unsanitory conditions. 

Symptoms of dengue include high fever, body aches, and internal bleeding in severe cases. Dengue is caused by bites of the female Aedes mosquito that thrives in areas where there is stagnant water. 

Because mosquitos breed is stagnant water, dengue strikes in the monsoon season in India, especially in the months of October and November afet the monsoon. 

There is no vaccine against Dengue and the only measures that work are hygiene precautions and early detection of the disease. Dengue has also struck other parts of India such as Uttar Pradesh where three people have died in the past few days. 

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has launched a health mission to provide basic health care to all in Delhi. The mission will focus on providing effective health care service and spread awareness of hygiene. The mission will be funded under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

In 1996, 10,000 people in the capital contracted the disease and over 400 died.