Dengue claims 50 lives, 7 Chikungunya cases in Delhi

New Delhi, Oct 9 (UNI) The government today claimed that there was adequate supply of platelates to deal with dengue outbreak of 3613 cases reported in the country which has claimed 50 lives till now while a new rush of patients visits the hospitals every day.

The suspected Chikungunya cases have reached 1.3 million with 13568 blood samples being tested and 1533 of them being confirmed of Chikungunya. Maximum 43148 cases of Chikungunya have been reported in Kerala where 33 cases have been confirmed but based on index matching probably, all the suspected cases were of Chikungunya only, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research N K Ganguly told mediapersons here today.

Delhi, already having 597 cases of dengue should now brace up to deal with Chikungunya also as of the 28 suspected cases of the blood tested seven have been found positive for the later, he said. The vector for both the diseases is same species of mosquito.

Though simultaneus infection of both the diseases are very rare, in one case in Karnataka, a person has been found to be positive for both dengue and Chikungunya, he informed. The only way to control both the disease was to control the mosquito which is proliferating due to rapid urbanisation.

However, the health ministry which has been till now claiming that Chikungunya was not fatal and over 100 deaths being reported in Kerala due to the disease was because of secondary infection today softened its stand.

''We are not saying that no death has occurred due to Chikungunya.

Some deaths may have occurred due to it. We are awaiting the report of the expert team which visited Kerala,'' Dr Ganguly said. The report is likely to be submitted in a weeks time.

He, however, said that most of the reported 'Chikungunya deaths' have been found in elderly population indicating that the disease make them more susceptible to other infections resulting in deaths due to renal failure.

Chikungunya outbreak has occurred after 32 years, Health Secretary P K Hota said and lamented that even the World Health Organisation failed to warn the country of the impending disease outbreak. Dr Ganguly however praised the Indian Disease surveillance system and said that the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya was due to rapid urbanisation resulting in mosquito breeding and migration.

Meanwhile, Delhi and NCR reported total of 957 cases of dengue with 22 deaths have been reported. Of these, 597 cases have been reported from Delhi while 367 from NCR and other states. Of these 367 cases, 95 cases have been reported from Haryana, 199 cases from Uttar Pradesh, 12 from Rajasthan and 61 from others.

Apart from Delhi, the maximum number of dengue cases have been reported from Kerala 713 followed by Gujarat 424, Rajasthan 326, West Bengal 314, Tamil Nadu 306, Maharashtra 226 and Uttar Pradesh 214. Cases have also been reported from Haryana 65, Karanataka 59 and Andhra Pradesh nine.

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