Leading diagnostic centres admitted to a slight uptick in tests turning out positive for dengue.
Four patients have died of dengue starting August this year at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, officials at the facility have said. According to Medical Superintendent Dr Ajay Shukla, dengue shock syndrome and encephalitis were the two reasons behind these four deaths.
Out of these four patients, one of them was from Uttar Pradesh and had encephalitis. “She was brought to us 20 days back in an unconscious state. She had encephalitis and was immediately intubated in the ICU and kept on a ventilator. She died on September 17,” said Dr Shukla, adding that she never regained consciousness.
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He added that the patients who died were brought to the hospital after delays. “They came at a very late stage. All four patients were in a serious condition,” the medical superintendent added.
According to an official from the Delhi Health Department, one death was also reported in May.
Incidentally, it has been five weeks since the Municipal Corporation of Delhi last released its weekly report on vector-borne diseases. The civic body usually releases weekly reports every Monday. Going by the last report on August 7, a total of 348 cases were reported compared to 174 dengue cases seen last year during the same period.
At Delhi government’s Lok Nayak Hospital, no death has been reported so far due to dengue. A senior official from the hospital said the fever clinic has been seeing almost 15 patients being admitted on average per day. “Last month and earlier this month, around 4-5 patients were admitted in the fever clinic,” she added.
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Meanwhile, leading diagnostic centres admitted to a slight uptick in tests turning out positive for dengue.
According to Dr Shalabh Malik, HOD, Microbiology and Virology at Lal PathLabs, 15,000 dengue tests have been conducted in the past month and 10% of these were positive.
Dr Arjun Dang, CEO of Dr Dangs Lab, said, “Over the past month, we have conducted hundreds of tests for dengue and malaria in Delhi. Of these, a notable proportion were positive for dengue, reflecting the impact of the recent heavy rainfall and waterlogging in the city. While the exact numbers are subject to ongoing data analysis, we are observing a significant daily rate of positive results for these vector-borne diseases.”
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First published on: 19-09-2023 at 21:55 IST
