As Delhi battles with rising number of vector-borne diseases, rare strain of dengue and chikungunya has taken doctors by surprise. While this year ‘dengue type -3’ is causing fever without shock, in a rare case, doctors have diagnosed a patient with dengue suffered from Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) with shock and bleeding in gums.
Dr Damanjit Chaddha, Director of Internal Medicine department at Fortis Hospital (Vasant Kunj) said, “Ram (name changed) had come to us with high fever and very low platelet count. He suffered joint pain, rashes and haemorrhagic fever with shock and bleeding through gums,” According to doctors, it is a very uncommon phenomenon and is found 1 in 100 patients during the time of health epidemics.
Dr Atul Kakkar, who heads the Internal Medicine department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, “We have come across an elderly patient diagnosed positive for dengue and chikunguyna.” This is the second time a patient has been diagnosed with both the diseases.
According to health experts, dengue III causes fever without shock and requires very little hospitalisation.
Dengue strains which are of four types Type I causes classic dengue fever, type II leads to haemorrhagic fever with shock, dengue III causes fever without shock and dengue IV causes fever without shock or profound shock.
last week, The Pioneer had reported at least seven patients at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), were diagnosed with both dengue and chikungunya co-infections.
In 2015, AIIMS laboratory suggested two of the most virulent strains of dengue-type II and type IV- circulated in Delhi, which affected more than 15,000 people and claimed 60 lives.
This year too, at least 20 people succumbed to death due to dengue and nearly 1,500 are suffering from the disease.