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3 leptospirosis-related deaths in Aug, spurt in mosquito borne diseases

TNN | Sep 2, 2016, 11.44 PM IST

Mumbai: A teenager from Kurla became the third person in August to die of complications arising out of leptospirosis, the BMC said on Friday. A bigger worry though is the sudden spurt in cases of mosquito-borne dengue and malaria across the city.

BMC’s executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar said the rise was a “bit alarming” but not out of control. In August, the BMC recorded 1,670 hospitalizations due to suspected dengue. The numbers could easily be more than double if every admission in the private sector is taken into account. Luckily for the city, there has been only one confirmed dengue death this year, which was recorded in January.

Despite a leptospirosis death, there are not many cases in the city. The deceased boy, who was a resident of Devshi Patra Chawl, would frequently travel to Mumbra, Kalyan and Bhiwandi for work. He came down with fever on August 10 and went to Bhabha Hospital after three days. As his condition worsened, he was shifted to Sion Hospital, where he passed away on August 21 of acute respiratory distress syndrome. This monsoon over 150 confirmed cases of lepto have been reported in the city.

Malaria cases doubled from 583 in July to over 1,010 cases in August. “Malaria and dengue cases have increased in almost every part of the city. There were heavy rains in the last week of August, followed by a dry spell. Humidity levels too are conducive for the virus to thrive but the situation is under control,” said Dr Keskar. In public hospitals, only 106 cases have been confirmed as dengue in August out of thousands of suspected cases.

However, in the private sector, doctors are treating a deluge of confirmed cases. Byculla, Dadar, Worli and areas in the western suburb have been reporting majority of the cases. “I treat up to 10 cases of dengue every day and a majority are testing positive,” said Dr M K Dave who consults with Karuna Hospital in Borivli (West). She said most cases are treatable and very few had complications. “We hydrate the patients and start them on antibiotics to prevent secondary infections,” she said. Dengue patients have to be closely monitored for falling platelet and white blood cell counts.

At the civic-run Sion Hospital, dengue and malaria admissions jumped nearly 25% in the last 10 days. “The peak we usually see post-Ganpati is already here. We are treating almost twice the number of fever cases and most of them look like dengue,” said head of medicine Dr Nivedita Moulick. In a small percentage of cases, dengue patients have lung and liver involvement.

SOURCE: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/3-leptospirosis-related-deaths-in-Aug-spurt-in-mosquito-borne-diseases/articleshow/53986734.cms

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