Delhi Raises Dengue Fever Alert

Indian health officials have launched a massive drive to contain an outbreak of dengue fever in the capital, Delhi. Thousands of workers fanned out across the city spraying pesticides as part of a door-to-door campaign on Monday.

The mosquito-borne disease has claimed 11 lives over the past two weeks and more than 400 people have been affected in and around the capital.

Dengue fever can lead to high fever, with flu-like symptoms, and even to brain haemorrhage.

Delhi's health minister, Yoganand Shastri, has said that if the outbreak is not contained within the next 24 hours, the authorities will be forced to declare an epidemic.

"We have also started random checks of homes, offices and places where there could be stagnant water," city health official NK Yadav is quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

What has alarmed many is the fact that one of the worst hit has been the country's premier public hospital, Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where more than 30 people have been affected, including 18 medical staff.

Mosquito-bred diseases such as dengue and malaria are common in the monsoon season in India - the mosquitoes breed in stagnant water.

With no preventive vaccines available for dengue fever, the authorities are concentrating on cleaning up the city before things get out of hand.

"Since October and November are [the] most dangerous months for breeding of mosquitoes we have appealed to citizens to be on alert," Mr Yadav said.

Dengue fever death toll in India climbs to 118

Fri Oct 20, 1:19 PM ET

NEW DELHI (AFP) - The number of deaths in India from an outbreak of the mosquito-borne dengue virus climbed to 118 Friday, according to a statement from the federal health ministry.

"A total number of 6910 cases (of dengue) and 118 deaths have been reported from India as a whole" up to midday on Friday, the statement said. The ministry recorded 103 deaths nationwide late on Tuesday.

New Delhi and its neighbouring states have been the worst hit by dengue -- a viral infection transmitted to humans through bites of the female Aedes mosquitoes -- with 1,903 cases so far, it said.

Officials at the dengue control room at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India's premier medical facility, said there was a "perceptible decline in the number of new infections" in the past 24 hours.

"This is due to the lowering of the temperatures due to rains in Delhi and nearby areas," D.K. Sharma, medical superintendent of AIIMS, told AFP.

"The lower temperatures will be a factor preventing the breeding of mosquitos."

Dengue causes a severe, flu-like illness and can lead to internal bleeding.

School children in New Delhi and some other parts of the country where dengue has been reported have been ordered to wear their winter uniforms to protect their skin from mosquito bites.

Besides dengue, an outbreak of chikungunya -- also a viral disease transmitted through the Aedes aegypti mosquito -- has affected 1,665 people nationwide.

The government of the southern coastal state of Kerala said last week the disease had claimed 86 lives. But the federal government said the deaths were not directly attributable to chikungunya as the victims had been weakened by other underlying conditions such as heart problems.

Chikungunya causes high fever and headache, but is rarely fatal, according to the World Health Organisation.

Checking the proliferation of mosquitoes is the main preventive measure for both dengue and chikungunya, which strike during the rainy season.

Mosquito-borne illnesses affect tens of thousands of Indians during the rainy season.

A dengue outbreak in Delhi claimed more than 400 lives in 1996 when 10,000 people contracted the virus.

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