AHMEDABAD: A day after claiming its fourth victim, dengue got more aggressive in the city with 200 fresh cases being registered at various government and private hospitals in the past 24 hours. This has taken the total number of dengue cases this year to 800!

Till September 12 this year, 245 dengue cases had been recorded in the city. Now, however, the total number of cases recorded this month stands at 445. Moreover, of the 800 cases registered this year, 300 were of school and college students aged 5 to 28 years. Last year, only 87 cases were registered in the city in whole of September last year. Experts said the aedes aegypti mosquito starts breeding during rains and continues to reproduce till the onset of winter.

Senior consultant physician Dr Ronak Shah said the virus had changed its pattern and got aggressive in the past one week. He further said he had seen more than 150 patients this season but there was no case of nasal bleeding or bleeding with cough.

“Paracetamol is not effective at all. We are forced to administer injectable paracetamol. Even after giving four doses of this drug, the fever at times refuses to subside,” said Dr Shah.

Infectious diseases specialist Dr Harsh Toshniwal said, “This season, classical symptoms like intense pain and red rashes are not seen very often. Even a mild headache and fever turns out to be dengue. Also, fever takes a long to come down. However, cases with platelet count below 20,000 are low this year.”

Avoid aspirin

Dengue patients should maintain their fluid intake to avoid dehydration and take paracetamol as needed for fever and myalgias. Aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents should generally be avoided.

Don’t ignore these symptoms

Severe abdominal pain, tenderness

Persistent vomiting, lethargy, restlessness

Abrupt change from fever to hypothermia

Bleeding, pallor

Cold, clammy extremities

Liver enlargement

Delirium

Memnagar resident dies of swine flu

A 61-year-old Memnagar resident died of swine flu at Krishna Shalby Hospital on Wednesday. The patient had suffered acute renal failure and had been put on ventilator support. His condition had deteriorated rapidly on account of diabetes. This season’s H1N1 death toll now stands at four.