‘Most severe’ Type-2 strain found in majority of dengue samples

Officials said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting with health department officials at 12pm Friday for interventions required to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases and ensure preparedness in the hospitals to deal with the number of dengue cases.

“Most of the cases have been contained and there has not been any fatality recorded so far. The cases are of mild nature. We are also looking to intensify other preventive measures such as fogging and mosquito surveillance and control,” an official from the state health department said.

According to Dr Rommel Tickoo, Director, Internal Medicine, Max Hospital, Saket, DENV 2 can cause dengue shock syndrome and also lead to multi-organ failure. “One has to be extremely careful; if you land up with DENV type-2, then the risk of complications is high,” he added.

Dr Tickoo said that early testing is most important if one is down with fever. Advising residents to take all precautions, he said, “Wear trousers, long-sleeve clothes, and apply mosquito repellent creams to protect yourself from mosquito bites. Adequate water intake is also very important if one is down with dengue,” he added.

Dr Tickoo said that most of the cases he has seen have recovered well and did not develop any hemorrhagic fever so far, except one.

Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said that the cases admitted under him had severely low blood platelet count along with fever, nausea and vomiting. He said no haemorrhagic fever was found in the patients.

“DENV 2 is severe if not taken care of and can lead to haemorrhagic fever and dengue shocks. If timely intervention, which includes control of fever and adequate hydration, is done, it will not lead to complications,” Dr Chaterjee said.