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After wreaking havoc in 2006,when the country reported a record number of dengue cases,the disease is back to haunt the city this year. However,experts are of the opinion that the severity of the virus will be much less now as immunity levels have gone up significantly.
There are four distinct,but closely related viruses,that cause dengue. According to experts,the country is currently in the grip of dengue-1,genotype III,an infection of which was last witnessed in 2006 when the national capital alone reported about 3,000 cases.
Even though other dengue strains continue to be in circulation,initial studies carried out by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have showed that dengue type 1 will remain dominant this year.
Experts say even though cases of dengue would go on increasing,the overall severity would be much less because immunity levels have also risen.
V M Katoch,DG,Indian Council of Medical Research,said,We predict deaths to be much less this year as the virus is already in circulation. In 2006,the number of deaths was more because the virus had come after a gap of two decades. Though the same virus has emerged this year as well,the severity would be much less as the population has become more immune.
Meanwhile,dengue cases continue to rise. As against 3,855 cases reported by this month in 2009,the number of cases this year has already touched 6,279 with three deaths being confirmed in Delhi.
Prior to 2006,Type 1 dengue was witnessed in southern India in the 1980s. Sequence-based characterisation shows that the same serotype will be most prevalent this year.
We will see more of benign infection with low mortality, an official said,adding that the dengue-II strain could have been a major cause for concern. In 1996,550 persons had died due to the disease.
We have seen a particular serotype getting submerged for a year and then coming back again. The one-year break for that particular serotype helps it evolve and infect again, another official noted.
Three die of swine flu
The national capital reported three more swine flu deaths even as another 37 patients tested positive for the H1N1 virus,taking the total number of people infected by the disease to 873 so far this year.
Three men succumbed to the H1N1 virus in the last three days. Two persons were from outside the city and one was a resident of Delhi. With this,the toll of the city alone is 18 as of now, Dr Debashish Bhattacharya,Delhi government’s nodal officer for H1N1 cases,said on Monday.
Dengue strains
Dengue I:Classic dengue fever; high fever,pain in joints
Dengue II:.Dengue haemorrhagic fever with shock; spontaneous bleeding of skin and gums
Dengue III:Dengue haemorrhagic fever without shock; circulatory failure,agitation
Dengue IV:Dengue haemorrhagic fever without shock; profound shock (unrecordable BP)
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