Dengue, chikungunya cases mount; government discusses strategies

New Delhi -- The number of patients suffering from dengue and chikungunya continued to rise in India as the central government and the affected states scrambled Wednesday to chalk out strategies to contain the spread of the mosquito-borne, potentially fatal diseases.

The country Wednesday reported 3,876 cases of dengue and over 1.3 million cases of chikungunya. The death toll for dengue fever was put at 52.

The central health ministry held a meeting of health ministers of the 10 states affected by the twin menaces in Delhi.

"We discussed new strategies and took stock of the efforts made to control the spread of the virus," Anubumani Ramadoss, union health minister, said after the meeting.

While reports said chikungunya had claimed a large number of lives in Kerala, Ramadoss maintained that there were no deaths reported due to chikungunya and the deaths in Kerala were not due to chikungunya but due to some other illness.

He added that the ministry had earlier given Rs.150 million to the states to control the spread of the diseases and later provided additional Rs.200 million for the purpose.

The union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was the latest to be affected by the chikungunya virus.

Dengue, too, continued to spread across the country as more and more cases were reported from various states.

Dengue, caused by the bite of the female aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant water, is marked by high fever, skin rashes and joint pain. A sharp drop in blood platelet count can prove fatal.

The national capital, the worst dengue-affected state, registered 72 new cases, taking the total number of the affected people to 1,111.

Of these, 719 are from Delhi itself while the rest are from areas close to the national capital.

Senior health officials said that most of the people affected by the virus in the capital were below 25 years age.

"In the past 15 days, around 1,500 units of platelets have been given to the people and we have taken measures to ensure a regular supply of platelets for the patients. There is no shortage of it," said a senior health official here.

The officials said that measures have been taken so that blood in the 53 licensed blood banks in Delhi was available for the patients.

Taking note of the increasing cases, Health Minister Ramadoss visited the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Wednesday morning to review the situation. The leading public hospital in the country has been receiving the largest number of patients.

"The minister met some of the patients and inquired about their well-being during his hour-long visit," said AIIMS medical superintendent D.K. Sharma.

Ramadoss also visited the newly formed special dengue ward in the hospital.

According to Sharma, there were 39 new patients in the hospital, taking the total to 179.

"In the past 24 hours, around 48 people have been discharged from the hospital and no deaths have been reported," he said.

Most patients coming to AIIMS were from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Among other affected states are Kerala (713 cases), Gujarat (424), Rajasthan (328), West Bengal (314), Tamil Nadu (368), Maharashtra (226) and Uttar Pradesh (259).

Officials said that cases were also reported from Haryana (73), Karnataka (60) and Andhra Pradesh (9).

In Andhra Pradesh, the dengue toll climbed to five Wednesday, with reports of fresh cases coming from different parts of the state.

The state's health officials confirmed that two people died of disease in West Godavari district and one in Khammam. One death each was reported earlier from Anantapur and Kadpa districts.

Unconfirmed reports, however, put the toll at 20 during the past week.