Dengue fever: Delhi tally nears 10,000; Sri Lanka and Bangladesh updates

The Delhi government says that the dengue fever outbreak this summer is the highest since 2006. In September alone, 6,775 cases were reported, bringing the city total to 9,438, including 41 deaths in the national capital.

The outbreak and the public fear of dengue has put a great strain on city hospitals. “The health infrastructure hasn’t expanded as much as the population has expanded,” said A. Venkat Raman, a professor of management studies at the University of Delhi, who specializes in health care.

It’s not just India on the subcontinent that is experiencing a dengue crisis.

A surge of dengue in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka has got health officials concerned. 800 cases were reported in the city in September, bringing the cumulative total to 1,400. A total of 375 and 1,749 cases of dengue were reported in 2014 and 2013 respectively.

According to the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), the number of cases reported so far in 2015 is the highest in the last nine years.

Even Bangladeshi cricket star, Mashrafe Mortaza, has become victim of the mosquito borne virus. Mortaza was hospitalized Friday with a diagnosis of dengue fever.

The number of dengue cases in Sri Lanka has eclipsed 21,000, according to a Daily News report. 21,381 dengue cases have been reported through September,including more than 50 fatalities.

Half the cases are reported from Western province, while more than 6,000 cases were reported from the capital city of Colombo.

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63

Related: