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| India-Pakistan |
| Dengue Fever Overwhelms New Delhi Hospitals |
| 2006-10-04 |
| The Indian government called an emergency meeting of health officials today Tuesday to try to control an outbreak of dengue fever that has infected about 500 people in northern India, overwhelming Delhi’s hospitals and exposing serious flaws in the public health system. Delhi authorities were spraying high-risk areas with insecticide to kill the mosquitoes that carry the disease, but as the death toll rose to 14, doctors’ associations criticized the government for a belated and ineffective response. There was chaos at Delhi’s leading public hospital, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, where doctors were forced to turn away suspected dengue cases because of a scarcity of beds and blood. People were being treated in corridors and in tents erected outside the building, and television reporters filming undercover within the building said the shortage of doctors on the dengue wards was so acute that patients were helping administer intravenous saline drips to each other. The hospital was itself struggling to contain an outbreak of the disease, attributed to mosquitoes breeding in stagnant pools of water on the surrounding campus. One doctor died last week from the fever, and 19 medical students and staff members have fallen ill. The inability of the government to cope with what is a relatively routine, annual phenomenon throws into harsh relief the crisis within India’s medical system, illustrating how ill-equipped it is to meet basic public health needs. The rampant spread of the disease also offers a snapshot of the poor sanitation systems in the capital. After each year’s monsoon season, Delhi is full of stagnating pools of water that offer ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and open sewers run through the city. “We have failed miserably to get rid of the mosquito which carries this disease,” said Dr. Sanjiv Malik, national president of the Indian Medical Association, pointing out that public health officials had expected a resurgence of the disease this year because it flares up every three or four years. “The government failed to cover the open drains and sewage channels,” Dr. Malik said. “They haven’t fumigated properly, and public awareness campaigns are beginning only now, when the outbreak is under way. All this should have happened months ago.” Known as “brain fever,” dengue fever is transmitted by the female Aedes mosquito. Symptoms include high temperatures, joint pains, vomiting and headaches. Severe cases can be fatal, and there is no vaccine or specific treatment. The outbreak this year is unusually serious; a year ago, 217 cases of dengue had been registered in northern India, less than half the current figure. Officials warn that the outbreak will continue until mid-November, when the mosquito breeding period ends. The city authorities threatened to fine people who fail to clean up potential breeding areas, warning that mosquitoes were able to breed inside the water cooling systems that are used as a cheap alternative to air conditioners by large numbers of the capital’s middle classes. There was widespread dismay at the reports of unhygienic conditions in one of the country’s best medical institutes. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi said it issued 27 notices to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in the past two months asking it to control mosquito breeding on its campus, the Hindustan Times reported. City officials were out in the hundreds at the beginning of the week, working on the public holiday marking Gandhi’s birthday, to spray large swaths of the capital. “We have also started random checks of homes, offices and places where there could be stagnant water,” a municipal health official, N.K. Yadav, told local media. |
| Posted by:.com |
| #2 CDC: Dengue (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) Seems to thrive even in temperate zones like new Zealand There is a small risk for dengue outbreaks in the continental United States. Two competent mosquito vectors, Ae. aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are present and, under certain circumstances, each could transmit dengue viruses. This type of transmission has been detected six times in the last 25 years in south Texas (1980 -2004) and has been associated with dengue epidemics in northern Mexico by Aedes aegypti and in Hawaii (2001-02) due to Ae. albopictus. Moreover, numerous viruses are introduced annually by travelers returning from tropical areas where dengue viruses are endemic. From 1977 to 2004, a total of 3,806 suspected cases of imported dengue were reported in the United States. Although some specimens collected were not adequate for laboratory diagnosis, 864 (23%) cases were confirmed as dengue. Many more cases probably go unreported each year because surveillance in the United States is passive and relies on physicians to recognize the disease, inquire about the patient's travel history, obtain proper diagnostic samples, and report the case. These data suggest that states in southern and southeastern United States, where Ae. aegypti is found, are at risk for dengue transmission and sporadic outbreaks. |
| Posted by: RD 2006-10-04 15:27 |
| #1 This is a dismally ignorant report. The high mortality rate means it is Dengue Hemoraghic Fever, which results from infection by a second of three strains of Dengue after having been infected by another. Dengue is spreading primarily because the mosquito vectors are adapting to urban environments and rapidly spreading their range. Singapore which has arguably the best mosquito control regime in any tropical region has had surging levels of Dengue. Recent research shows that the mosquito lavae can survive for weeks in a dry place and only need a couple of days of water to result in a Dengue carrying mosquito. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-10-04 07:58 |