delhi

Updated: Dec 05, 2016 23:39 IST

The monsoon is over but diseases spread by mosquitoes continue to stalk Delhi.

Ten more malaria deaths were added to the official data, taking the total to 16, shows the weekly report released by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

The death toll is shockingly high because the MCD has confirmed only 31 malaria cases to date, which indicates the malarial parasite killed half of those infected.

Malaria is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes that causes fever, headache, chills and vomiting. It’s a curable disease and people die only if they do not get treated in time either because they remain undiagnosed or can’t reach a healthcare centre.

This is the first time in five years that malaria deaths have been reported in Delhi. The National Vector Borne Disease Control Problem (NVBDCP), the national body that monitors outbreak of vector-borne diseases, has reported ‘0’ malaria deaths in Delhi since 2012.

The first malaria death reported this year was that of 31-year-old Praveen Sharma, who died of cerebral oedema — accumulation of excess fluid inside the brain — and multi-organ failure at Safdarjung Hospital on September 4.

The toll of malaria reported this year is higher that the deaths related to dengue or chikungunya reported by the corporation this year. To date, the corporation has reported 6 deaths due to dengue and none related to chikungunya.

However, HT has independently confirmed 25 deaths due to dengue and 20 related to chikungunya.

What is interesting is that the deaths have been reported during a week when no malaria cases were reported by the corporation.

This is the case with the dengue and chikungunya report as well.

The corporation, to date, has reported 4,305 cases of dengue, with 105 reported during this week, and 9,633 cases of chikungunya, with 108 reported this week.

However, doctors across the city have been receiving hardly any cases of dengue or chikungunya now. “We see a few sporadic cases -- I have seen only one case of dengue and one of chikungunya in the last five days. But, the vector borne diseases peaked during the last week of September and the beginning of October and the numbers started going down after,” said Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant of internal medicine at indraprastha Apollo hospital.