Chikungunya outbreak: Delhi toll climbs to 11, Union Health Ministry seeks report from state govt

Five more deaths from chikungunya complications were reported at a private hospital in Delhi, while AIIMS confirmed one suspected case, taking to 11 the number of fatalities due to the vector-borne disease in the city that is grappling with a severe health crisis.

Five deaths have taken place at Apollo Hospital and most of the victims were aged 80 or above.

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The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday sought a detailed report from the Delhi government on deaths due to "upsurge" of chikungunya, which has claimed 10 lives in Delhi and affected over 1,000 people and directed officials to remain alert to prevent it from escalating further.

“We have had five deaths in the past three weeks of patients with chikungunya fever, most of whom were elderly.  80-year-old Mahendra Singh from Ghaziabad died of chikungunya complications yesterday afternoon,” hospital authorities said.

“He was diagnosed positive for chikungunya through RT-PCR test. He died of multi-organ failure triggered by complications from the disease,” they said.

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Chikungunya is taking its toll in the national capital where the number of cases have climbed to over 1,000 this season and fever clinics are getting swamped with rush of patients.

“Most of them had associated co-morbid disease conditions and complications like chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, which affect the course of recovery,” Apollo Hospital said.

One suspected chikungunya death at AIIMS was today also confirmed.

“The patient died last week. He was aged above 60 and had co-morbid conditions and died of multi-organ failure,” a top AIIMS official told PTI.

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Five deaths from chikungunya were reported till yesterday in the city that is battling a viral onslaught of this disease after nearly 10 years. Four of these deaths took place at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH).

75-year-old Prakash Kalra of Mathura died last evening at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where three other elderly persons succumbed to the vector-borne disease on Monday.

A 22-year-old girl died of cardiac arrest triggered by chikungunya complications at Hindu Rao Hospital. Isha, from Kabir Nagar, had died on September 1, officials said.

65-year-old Ramendra Pandey, referred to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital from a Ghaziabad hospital, had died of chikungunya with sepsis on Monday.

 Dengue Toll rises to 14

The death toll due to dengue in the national capital mounted to 14 as AIIMS confirmed the five cases of fatalities due to the vector-borne disease which has also affected over 1,150 people this season.

“The five deaths from dengue took place between September 1-13,” a top AIIMS official told PTI.

On Monday, the premier institute had said that it was looking into the details of these “five suspected cases”.

Till yesterday, at least nine deaths due to dengue were reported this year in the national capital, though the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), which compiles the report on vector-borne diseases on behalf of all civic bodies here, has maintained the death toll at four.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences is getting several dengue patients everyday in its fever clinics, though its laboratories are testing less cases as positive compared to over 1,440 chikungunya blood test samples which have tested positive till yesterday.

At least 1,158 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital with nearly 390 of them being recorded in the first 10 days of September, the month in which the vector-borne disease begins to peak.

387 cases were reported this month, marking a rise of over 50 per cent from the previous count, according to a municipal report released today.

Over 770 cases were reported till September 3 this season.  Out of the total number of cases, August alone has accounted for 652.

The last dengue fatality reported was of Iram Khan (25), a native of Meerut, who lived in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi, who succumbed to dengue on August 31 at Apollo Hospital.

The other three deaths reported by SDMC include Nazish (38), sister-in-law of Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan, who had died of dengue shock syndrome at Apollo Hospital on August 12.

Muskan (12), a resident of Shaheen Bagh here, had died on July 29, while Deepak (19), from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to the disease on July 27.  Both died at Safdarjung Hospital.

Besides, five other fatalities have been reported by different hospitals in the city, which have not been acknowledged yet by the SDMC.