Dengue wreaks havoc in Delhi, experts emphasize precaution

New Delhi: Dengue is becoming a cause of concern for public health authorities in Delhi as hospitals are reporting increasing cases of vector-borne disease.

Most hospitals in the national capital have reported at least three dengue cases daily for the past three weeks.

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Not all dengue patients need hospitalisation. If the fever persifsts even after its stipulated period and signs of complications are visible, a patient is admitted to the hospital.

Dengue Virus (DENV) causes fever and haemorrhagic symptoms. DENV-2 is associated with a more severe disease.

Dengue infections are caused by four closely related viruses named DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. These four viruses are called serotypes because each has different interactions with the antibodies in the human blood serum. The four DENV serotypes mean that it is possible to be infected four times.

Dengue season begins post-monsoon and stays till the onset of winter. Experts believe that last year the dengue cases were quite low.

Dr Sisir Paul, Director and Head of Department, Paediatrics, Max (Saket) said four-five dengue patients are coming to the hospital every day.

"We do not get the analysis result whether it is a DEN1 or DEN 2, we only get to know whether it's a positive case of dengue or not through the NS1 antigen test. Definitely, we are seeing more dengue patients, but we do not know if they are strain 2 or not. Last year, the dengue cases were quite low. The fever starts settling down in four to five days. We are getting three to four positive patients every day," he said.

"There are two most common complications in dengue, one is low blood pressure and another is the platelets drop. There is a risk of bleeding as well," he added.

Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital (LNJP) said patients were also coming from outside Delhi.

"We are getting two to three cases of dengue each day and some of the patients are from outside Delhi also. It takes five to six days for a patient to recover. We are also admitting patients whose platelet count is low."

Dr BL Sherwal, Medical Director, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, said dengue is a mosquito-borne disease and one should take all the precautions.

"Prevention is better than cure. We are getting cases from Delhi, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh has seen most dengue cases in the state.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, few other states have also reported dengue cases. Delhi also reported cases of malaria and chikungunya.

Delhi hospitals had earlier seen a spike in viral fever among children.

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