The national capital has reported its first death caused due to dengue this season, officials said on Sunday.
Though the city has not faced an outbreak of vector-borne diseases this year, the cases are rising every week
Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The national capital has reported its first death caused due to dengue this season,
officials said on Sunday. A 39-year-old man succumbed to dengue in a private health facility in the city, making it the first death attributed to the mosquito-borne disease in Delhi-NCR this year, they added.
However, the case will not be logged into the city’s toll since the deceased belonged to Haryana, said Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officials.
“The patient hailed from Sonipat. We have informed the authorities there to initiate prevention protocols in the locality,” a senior health official of the civic body said. He was admitted to a private nursing home in Delhi on September 28 after suffering from high-grade persistent fever. His blood samples were taken and sent for investigation. However, when the man did not respond to the treatment, he was admitted to BL Kapoor Hospital on September 29. He died a day later, the officials said.
“The Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) unit has taken note of the case. Genome sequencing will be done to assess which dengue strain had contracted the patient,” the official added. According to the medical literature, there are four dengue virus serotypes—DENV-1, DENV-2, DENV-3, and DENV-4—which are in circulation in the country. The DENV-2 is considered the most virulent among the four.
However, recovery from infection by a particular serotype is believed to provide lifelong immunity against that strain. Though the city has not faced an outbreak of vector-borne diseases this year, the cases are rising every week. The previous week was the second in a row when the city recorded more than 100 dengue cases.