More than 3,000 dengue cases registered this monsoon

New Delhi: With 894 cases of dengue reported in the national capital over the last week, the total number of people affected by the disease has reached to 3,109 this season, according to a Municipal report released on Monday.

The number of people affected by malaria this year till September 23, has climbed to 954 in which 85 new cases recorded in a week while the figure for chikungunya stands at 533 with 61 new cases reported previous week.

Of the 3,109 dengue cases, 1,465 affected people were residents of Delhi, while the rest were from other states.

Out of the 1,465 cases of the Delhi residents, 761 were reported this month. Dengue has claimed one life in the city during the current season of vector-borne diseases so far.

As the report, breeding of mosquitoes has been reported from 1,66,586 households in Delhi.

All the three municipal corporations have stepped up the awareness drives. They are distributing pamphlets and plying vehicles with loudspeakers issuing dos and don'ts for the prevention of these diseases.

The cases of vector-borne diseases are usually reported between mid-July and November-end.

The cases of all the three vector-borne diseases were reported much earlier this time.

Doctors had attributed this to an early arrival of the monsoon. Dengue and chikungunya are caused by the aedes agypti mosquito, which breeds in clear water. The anopheles mosquito, which causes malaria, can breed in both fresh and muddy water.

According to the report, breeding of mosquitoes has been reported from 1,66,586 households in Delhi.

The National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR) had already found two new species of Anopheles Stephensi (urban vector) and Anopheles Culicifacies (rural vector) circulating this year. The parasitic infection was lying dormant after mutating, but it has made a comeback after a gap of five years at a time when Delhi is already reeling under the scourge of dengue, malaria and chikungunya.

Experts have raised the red flag after the resurgence of this deadly parasite and have advised government agencies to take adequate measures to arrest the spread of this deadly infectious disease that can play havoc with people's health.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the city has banned the over-the-counter sale of nonsteroidal anti- inflammatory drugs such as Aspirin and Brufen as their use may "pose a threat" to the dengue and chikungunya patients.