First dengue fatality reported in Capital

The first death in Delhi due to dengue this season has been reported at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. The 23-year-old deceased was a resident of Delhi and had a history of heart and kidney ailments.

The information was disclosed by Dr Atul Kakkar, Senior Consultant, Medicine, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Dr Kakkar said that delay in treatment resulted in the death of the young man.

"He was admitted after three days of fever and was shifted to ICU. He tested positive for dengue, but due to delay in treatment and other health issues, he could not be saved," explained Dr Kakkar.

Meanwhile, at least 79 fresh cases of malaria were reported last week, taking the number of people affected by the vector-borne disease in the city this year to 304.

According to the status report of Municipal Corporations released on Monday, of the 304 malaria cases, 137 affected people were residents of Delhi while the rest of the cases diagnosed here were from other states.

The total number of dengue cases has risen to 237, including 63 cases reported in July and 15 recorded in June.

Cases of chikungunya stood at 220, as of July 29. Of these, 140 of the affected people were residents of Delhi, while the rest of the cases were traced to Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states.

Cases of all three vector-borne diseases have emerged earlier than usual this year, which doctors have attributed to early arrival of monsoon.

Breeding of mosquitoes has been reported at 80,411 households in Delhi, according to the MCD report.

Till January 14, only two chikungunya cases were reported, while no dengue case had been diagnosed back then.

At least 15 fatalities were reported last year at various hospitals in the city due to complications triggered by chikungunya, though civic bodies have kept the death tally due to chikungunya at zero.

At least 21 deaths due to dengue were reported last year at various hospitals, including nine at AIIMS; however, the official tally of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation stood at 10.

17 suspected deaths in 2016 due to malaria were also reported by the civic bodies. In one of the worst

outbreaks, a total of 12,221 chikungunya cases were reported in Delhi till December 24, 2016, out of which 9,749 were confirmed.