Delhi: At 163, dengue cases marginally more than last year, no spurt yet, reveals data

NEW DELHI: Despite fears of wider spread of dengue in the city this year owing to heavy rainfall, the early trends show that the cases are marginally up compared to previous year.

Till July third week this year, number of dengue cases recorded in Delhi is 163 as against was 158 in 2022. This year's cases are high compared to 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 which are 43, 32, 28, and 40, respectively.

In 2023, the number of cases has been highest in the month of July so far which is 41 till 15th of this month, as reported by Delhi Municipal Corporation, which is the nodal agency for keeping track of vector-borne diseases.

A lot depends upon the serotype of the dengue which is caused from adenovirus vectors. There are four types of Dengue serotype - I, II, III and IIII. The serotype I and II are considered more dangerous which can cause a drop in count of platelets. In some cases, the drop can be witnessed within a day's time. This usually happens during the peak of infection, three-four days of fever.

Experts are of the opinion that dengue cases in the city will depend upon which serotype is going to appear this year. The state government has already started taking measures ever since the city witnessed flooding in different parts of Delhi.

"With the use of Single Donor Platelets, an infected person's count can go up by 20,000-25,000. But it is to be remembered that even if the platelet count increases immediately after administering, it again goes down owing to the high infection rate. So, the recovery takes some time. SDPs are given so that the platelets don't completely run out," said Dr Ashish Khattar, from Venkateshwara Hospital.

However, as per the data, there has been a spurt in cases of Malaria compared to last year. During the same time-period, the city had recorded 29 Malaria cases while this year it is 54.