South India faces increase in dengue patients

The Union health ministry’s unit that tracks mosquito-borne diseases has recorded the largest increases in dengue patients and associated deaths this year in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The numbers have fallen from last year in several parts of eastern India, including Bengal and Bihar, amid allegations of suppression of data in some states. The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme documented over 16,000 dengue patients in Tamil Nadu till October 29, a 6.3-fold rise over 2016. Fifty-two patients have died of dengue – a viral infection spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito – in the state this year compared to five last year. The 2017 dengue burden has increased 2.4 to 7.6 times in three other southern states. “The lack of adequate community participation in helping to keep the number of mosquitoes down is almost always the main cause of such rises in dengue cases,” said U.S.N. Murty, a vector control biologist.