Dengue Claims Life of 19-year-old at Nagpur's Posh Area

Nagpur has not been successful in fighting dengue this year. Incessant rains coupled with a humid weather condition and water stagnation has seen a sharp rise in dengue cases in Nagpur.

According to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)'s malaria and filaria departments, 169 cases of the mosquito-borne disease were recorded, mostly from posh areas, reported The Times of India.

The report further added that the health department has revealed that a 19-year-old boy succumbed to the disease in the first 15 days of this month, adding that it fears the numbers might increase.

The death marks Nagpur's first fatality from the mosquito-borne disease this year. There had been two deaths last year as well.

While the city had recorded 39 positive cases in August and 37 in September, the sudden spike in cases during the current month has left official worried regarding the status of the mosquito-borne disease.

Further, four new cases of scrub typhus have also been reported from affluent localities of Nagpur, the report said.

Scrub typhus is another disease that is spread to people through the bites of infected larval mites. The symptoms of scrub typhus usually begin within 10 days of being bitten and include symptoms like fever and chills, headache, body aches and muscle pain as well as a dark, scab-like region at the site of the bite along with enlarged lymph nodes and rash.

The NMC had, in September, issued 165 notices on schools, hospitals and other establishments after discovering breeding sites convenient for mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus on their premises.

Officials, on their part say that the concern has turned grave since the cases being confirmed are reported from posh localities.

The report stated that in whole of 2018, the department had collected 4,447 serum samples of which 565 turned out be positive following ELISA tests, on the other hand, the number of samples testing positive between January and October 15 is already 378.

Speaking about the same, NMC's malaria and filaria officer Jayshree Thote said waterlogging in the basement of the institutions and water storage tanks of complexes are two of the main breeding places for the dengue vector.

Thote further added that a committee under the assistant director of health services would review the death of the 19-year-old, the report added.