First it was Pakistan, where dengue fever begun its yearly march a couple of months ago, now it's in India too, and New Delhi seems to be bearing the brunt of it.
The hospitals in Delhi hare overflowing with patients afflicted by the disease.
The annual plague seems to have come back with a vengeance this year, in the entire Hindustani region. There is no known cure nor vaccination for the disease, and it is mosquito borne, like malaria.
Although authorities proclaim that the epidemic is somewhat contained and that the numbers are steady at about 3,500 for the year, the hospital wards in the old capital tell a different story. The hospitals in fact, are overflowing. And many are sent home, where they are treated by relatives. The true count then, may never be known.
It is so bad in Delhi, in fact, that all routine surgeries have been postponed until the epidemic wanes, to make room for patients with dengue.
But in India, dengue has seen a considerable increase in cases, especially in the past five years, with the current years seen as one of the worse if not the worst.
Doctors speaking anonymously have told that the authorities are woefully underreporting cases, mostly not to spread panic in the city of 17 million. But such practices can only do harm in the long run, since people need to know the danger and take action, either through more intensive spraying, or at least by trying to prevent infection by covering up and using nets.
With the winter, the cases diminish naturally, as the host of the infection, Aedes Aegypti dies with the cold. But the problem is not gone with the change in season. More mosquitoes now mean more eggs later. And with each consecutive year, the epidemic could spread to neighboring regions.
Although a terrible disease in terms of duration and symptoms, it rarely kills. But what does kill people infected with the dengue is concomitant infections. Dengue debilitates and weakens the immune system, overwhelming the patient with both symptoms and fever, so that if another viral infection is contracted, that secondary disease could kill when it might not in an otherwise healthy individual.
Source : France 24/ 10.20.13
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