Second suspected dengue death in Mumbai

There is an unusual rise in dengue cases this monsoon season. Representation pic

A senior citizen is suspected to have become the second person to succumb to dengue in the city on July 25. The incident comes amid an unusual rise in dengue
cases this monsoon season, with the first death reported on July 22.

The deceased, a man over 70 years of age, had been admitted to Global Hospital in Parel for about four days. According to Dr Manjusha Agarwal, a senior consultant in internal medicine at the hospital, his death was due to a combination of three factors: his age, dengue and a history of blood thinners. "His platelet count dropped and there was bleeding in the brain, likely due to pre-existing use of blood thinners. We do not know if it was due to a fall, but the blood thinners worsened the bleeding, in addition to the dengue infection. He kept bleeding even after surgery and eventually passed away," Dr Agarwal said.

BMC health department's head Dr Daksha Shah, however, said that as of now, it has not received any information on another dengue death in the city.

As per the latest BMC data, between July 1 and 23, Mumbai recorded 406 dengue cases, and in June while it saw 353 dengue cases. This is a sharp rise compared to 39 dengue cases in June 2022 and 61 dengue cases in July 2022.

The BMC health department also pointed out that dengue cases have not seen a sharp increase from that of last week's numbers (July 9 to 16).

To control the spread of dengue, the pest control department has inspected 11,32,491 houses between July 1 and 23. It inspected 12,19,514 water containers and detected and destroyed 13,319 mosquito breeding sites in the same period.