Suspected dengue death reported, might be the first of 2018
According to East Delhi Municipal Corporation health department officials, a case of a suspected dengue death was reported from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Notably, if the death is confirmed, it'll be 2018's first death from dengue. Now, as per procedure, a review committee will go through the case documents to confirm whether it was indeed a dengue death. Here's more.
What we know about the reported dengue death case
Last week, a woman admitted to AIIMS was suspected to have died of dengue, and the case was reported to the EDMC who set up a 'death review committee' as per norms. The report is likely to come next week. However, while the review procedure is on, Hindustan Times reported that an official from AIIMS, on the condition of anonymity, independently confirmed the death.
Delhi has seen fewer instances of dengue this year
Meanwhile, Municipal officials have said that Delhi has seen fewer cases of dengue this year, as opposed to the same period in previous years. This year, only 69 cases of dengue have been reported so far, as opposed to 325 cases in the same period last year. Even in 2015, when Delhi had its worst dengue outbreak, 262 cases had been reported in the corresponding period.
Why the mosquito population has been subdued this year
"If you look at the data for...outbreak years, sporadic rains started in the city from March-April, leading to an explosion in the mosquito population. However, this year because Delhi had been relatively dry till the monsoons arrived the breeding was less," said a senior official.
Officials expect a spike in vector-borne diseases post rains
However, officials said that they expect a spike in vector-borne diseases in Delhi, especially after the rains in the past few weeks, adding that they still didn't expect dengue cases to exceed previous years'. Notably though, Delhi is seeing higher number of malaria cases this year, with 131 cases within Delhi, and 119 cases of patients coming in from neighboring states.
