Dengue raises ugly head again after fresh rain

Prithvijit Mitra | TNN | Oct 14, 2016, KOLKATA: After a brief downward slide, the Pujas saw a sudden spurt in the number of dengue patients across city hospitals. While three deaths occurred during the festival, the number of critical cases, too, has shot up. Experts believe the weather was responsible for the epidemic refusing to ebb and the mosquito-borne virus could linger around till November, unless the temperature drops significantly . The number of dengue deaths in the state currently stands at 46.

Arati Ghosh, 65, died at Medica Superspecialty Hospital on Wednesday while two 19year-olds -Rabi Shankar Bose and Amit Saha -succumbed to the virus on October 7 and 11respectively .

Sporadic showers and the prevailing temperature range of 30-35 degrees kept the virus active, said doctors. "Weather hasn't changed much since September, apart from the decline in the volume of rain.But intermittent showers keep happening which have helped to create new larvae breeding grounds. This is evident from the rise in the number of patients since last week.Some of the patients have very severe symptoms," said Shyamasis Banerjee, consultant at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. In early October, the number of dengue patients at Apollo had dropped to 55 but now it spiraled to 66.

The early October lull might have continued only if the rains ceased and the tempe rature plunged, feels Samarjit Naskar, critical care specialist at Belle Vue Clinic."It seemed rains would stop before the Pujas but the showers came back. So, the lull proved temporary . Since past week we have had a steady flow of patients. The symptoms are quite severe in some cases. Most have the usual ones -high fever, body ache, pain in the eyes and platelet drop. Under normal circumstances, the patient load should have reduced by now.But given the weather, this was inevitable," said Naskar. At Belle Vue, the number of patients had dropped to about a dozen but has now reached 15.

This year the mortality rate has been higher in proportion to the number of affected, felt the critical care head at Medica, Arindam Kar. "Even though the number of patients has dropped, the death rate has remained steady . This is alarming since it indicates the strains are more potent now. There may be no respite till the temperature drops," said Kar. But the chances of the mercury taking an immediate downward plunge are remote, said the Met office. "This is the end of monsoon so showers will be rare. The minimum temperature has dropped by a couple of degrees but the maximum will continue to hover around the 34-35 degree mark," said GK Das, director, Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC).

The sudden spells of shower last week are responsible for the spurt, felt Irfaan Akhtar, consultant microbiologist, Fortis Hospital. "Short spells of rain invariably lead to stagnant water and a fresh spurt ensued. The number of patients in our hospital had dropped to less than 10 but it has now shot up to 11," said Akhtar.He said any stagnant water is enough to serve as breeding ground. "Even a bottle cap is enough for mosquito larvae to breed. Once a larvae is hatched, it can spread the virus for a month. So, the epidemic continues," added Akhtar.