Data shows children below 15 years were most infected and Tondiarpet, Ambattur, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar zones were dengue hotspots. Of the 100 dengue-infected in August, 38 were younger than 15 as were 51 of 96 cases reported in September.
This isn’t unprecedented as the city has seen 11 dengue outbreaks in the past 20 years, said S Selvakumar, chief vector control officer. Data on dengue cases from 1999 to 2019, prepared as part of a research paper authored by the health secretary J Radhakrishnan and vector control officers of GCC, shows dengue cases usually start in July, after the summer showers, and peak in October-November. The cases begin to dip by December as the northeast monsoon rain, usually heavy, washes away eggs, larvae from breeding spots. The data also showed the highest number of cases were reported in 2001 — 736, followed by 616 in 2002 and around 500 in 2003, 2004 and 2005. There was a dip before it rose again in 2017, 2018 and 2019 when 408, 636 and 618 cases were reported. The study titled ‘Dengue in Chennai – A retrospective study’ included data only from sentinel surveillance hospitals — a network created to monitor rate of occurrence of specific diseases.
Mosquito menace complaints to the corporation helpline 1913 also rose to 306 in the past two weeks from 266 in the preceding fortnight. This was despite the civic body intensifying fogging.
Vector control experts said cases were fewer last year due to the lockdowns. “Aedes mosquito breeds in fresh water and a recent GCC review showed that most common sources for its larvae were water tanks, storage drums, pots and terraces,” said Selvakumar. When asked about reasons for the spike in cases, a senior official said that apart from the intermittent rain, domestic breeding checkers (DBCs) who go house-to-house were busy with vaccination drivers and other Covid work. “The city has 3,621 DBCs and each has to check at least 80 houses every day. Since they go to the same houses for Covid work, many either skip dengue checks or do not report actual data,” the official said.
If it turns into an epidemic this year, it will be a double burden on the civic body which is also dealing with Covid-19. The problem is that some symptoms such as fever is common in both dengue and Covid, said Manish Narnaware, deputy commissioner, health. “People should remember that dengue usually causes severe pain in the joints and may become haemorrhagic if not treated on time,” he said.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/chennai-keep-pots-pans-closed-dengue-cases-up/articleshow/86544151.cms
