An 18-year-old Asad Iqbal, a resident of Shaheen Bagh succumbed to dengue at Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital on Sunday morning.
Iqbal is the fifth victim of dengue this season in Delhi. However, numbers of deaths could be more, a doctor said.
A native of Bihar, Iqbal was living in the city to pursue his higher education.
Sources at the hospital said, he died around 7 am. This is the third dengue death reported in South Delhi.
“He was brought to the hospital in a critical state on August 26. He was earlier admitted to some private hospital in south Delhi area and was later referred to Apollo Hospital. He died this morning of dengue shock,” the source said.
“His blood pressure was very low and he was put on ventilator in an ICU,” the source said.
Earlier, this month Muskaan, 12, from Shaheen Bagh and Deepak, 19, had died due to dengue at Safdarjung Hospital. Also, a 17-year-old patient died suspected to have suffered from dengue at the State Government’s lok Nayak Hospital. Okhla’s AAP MlA Amanatullah Khan’s sister-in-law too had died to due to dengue at Apollo Hospital.
While there is spike in dengue cases, doctors feared that there can be a chikungunya outbreak too. This year virus of chikungunya is more active but there is nothing to panic as it is not a life threatening disease like dengue, said doctors.
The AIIMS laboratory and other Government hospitals are receiving 50 per cent of positive sample of chikungunya cases when compared with dengue cases. An AIIMS doctor said, “From July 1to August 10, we tested about 300 blood samples in our labs, of which at least 200 were found positive for chikungunya,” said a doctor.
A senior doctor criticised the State Government and Municipal Corporations for failing to prevent breeding of mosquitoes.
“Dengue and chikungunya cases are rampant in Delhi and raising preventive awareness is crucial. Chikungunya is not life-threatening and symptoms typically exist for 7-10 days. Dengue on the other hand can be easily managed and does not always require hospitilisation. Mass public awareness campaigns are essential,” said Dr KK Aggarwal Secretary General Indian Medical Association (IMA).
According to Delhi Municipal Corporations figures, so far dengue has claimed two lives in the city with 311 cases of vector borne diseases being reported till August 20.
It may be noted that last year Delhi recorded more than 15,000 dengue cases and more than 60 people had died as per the municipal data.