Mumbai: Twelve Mumbaikars succumbed to complications arising out of dengue viral fever this year, even as 18 others died due to leptospirosisa bacterial infection transmitted by wading through flood waters contaminated by urine of infected animals.
In all, 41 people died due to various infectious and water-borne diseases in Mumbai between Jan 1 and Sept 30, according to BMC’s health update released on Tuesday.”The majority of these deaths took place from July onwards after the monsoon started,” said BMC executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah.
Both malaria and H1N1-influenza claimed five lives each, while hepatitis claimed one.
The state has recorded 98 deaths due to infectious and water-borne diseases in the last nine months, with H1N1 as the largest killer (46), followed by dengue (19) and malaria (15). The state toll doesn’t include Mumbai’s 41 deaths as BMC’s death committee only recently ruled on the causes of deaths.
According to BMC’s update, the incidence of most monsoon diseases such as leptospirosis, H1N1, gastroenteritis and hepatitis has registered a drop in a month. “In comparison to Aug, there was a decline in the incidence of most diseases in Sept,” said Dr Shah.
However, mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue continued to increase in Sept. As against 1,171 malaria cases in Aug, the Sept tally was 1,261. Dengue cases jumped 40% in Sept (1,456) from 1,013 in Aug, said civic officials.
Cases of chikungunya, the other mosquito-borne viral fever, dropped marginally from 164 to 156 in the same period. Chikungunya emerged as the new worrisome infection this year, with case incidence rising to three digits from two digits last year. Influenza or H1N1 cases, which rose sharply in July, dropped to 62 in Sept from 170 in Aug. Leptospirosis cases reduced to double digits (75) from 272 in Aug.
However, doctors said the worst of dengue is yet to come; the disease usually peaks in the Oct-Nov period. “Intermittent rain last week created favourable conditions for mosquitoes to breed,” said a senior doctor. Dr Shah said people should be vigilant about mosquitoes and dengue fever for the next two months.
