MUMBAI:
Three dengue deaths have been reported in the city since August 15 and in the past fortnight, 74 fresh cases have been recorded and 1,134 patients have been treated for dengue-like symptoms. Data from the civic health department shows that this year, the number of dengue cases are higher than last year’s records. In August last year, 93 cases had been recorded. This August, 153 confirmed and 2,317 suspected dengue cases were reported by government hospitals across Mumbai.
A 35-year-old man from Bandra West died of dengue shock syndrome on August 24. “He suffered a multi-organ dysfunction,” a civic official said. On August 20, a 52-year-old woman from Parel suffered a septic shock and multi-organ failure after testing positive for dengue.
A 20-year-old man from C ward (Kalbadevi and Marine Lines area) died on August 18 due to dengue with malaria and very low platelet count. His kidneys deteriorated following the infection. Following the three deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation screened 6,752 people for fever and dengue-like symptoms. Seven persons with fever were referred for treatment.
“The advisory is to not self-medicate and inform a doctor if one vomits, has abdominal pain, discolouration of eyes or bleeding from nose,” said Dr Padmaja Keskar, the executive health officer. The insecticide department has conducted fogging exercise in 1,054 houses in the past fortnight.
Data from the department shows that in four houses – all of them in the areas where the three deceased stayed – mosquito breeding had been detected and measures taken against it. “We inspected 230 containers,” an official said.
Leptospirosis toll reaches 11
The number of deaths due to leptospirosis touched 11 this year with the recent deaths of a seven-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man. In August, the BMC recorded 46 leptospirosis cases, the highest across Maharashtra.
The boy from Govandi suffered a pulmonary haemorrhage on August 20 after contracting the bacterial infection, while the 35-year-old, also from same neighbourhood, suffered multi-organ failure due to leptospirosis same day. Following the deaths, BMC conducted an exercise to kill rodents and poisoned 74 rat burrows in Govandi area.
In August, 804 malaria cases have been recorded with a three-year-old succumbing to the infection on August 6. According to civic officials, a committee confirmed the death due to malaria earlier this week. So far this year, two malaria deaths have been recorded by civic health department.
