NEW DELHI Thousands of health workers in New Delhi went door to door Monday spraying pesticides to stop the spread of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne disease that has killed 14 people in northern India in the past six weeks, officials said.
New Delhi's health minister, Yoganand Shastri, told reporters the moves
to stop the spread of dengue were aimed at keeping the outbreak from
becoming an epidemic.
But if "the outbreak is not contained by Tuesday, we will declare it an epidemic," he told reporters.
Female Aedes mosquitoes transmit the disease, and symptoms include high
fever, joint pain, headache and vomiting. It is fatal in rare cases.
Eleven of the deaths have been in New Delhi, Shastri said, while three other people died in Uttar Pradesh.
As a 3-year-old girl, Nisha Dubey, died of suspected dengue in a
state-run village health center on the outskirts of Lucknow on Sunday,
her relatives mobbed the center alleging that the death occurred
because of a lack of medical attention.
"There were no doctors or paramedics present when we brought Nisha, who
was running a high fever, to the health center. My daughter died
waiting for treatment," R.K. Dubey told The Associated Press.
New Delhi is filled with pools of stagnating water where the insects
breed — they can be found everywhere from well-kept parks to
trash-strewn lots — and health workers on Monday sprayed pesticides and
fumigated homes, offices and shops, said N.K. Yadav, New Delhi's
municipal health officer.
Breeding season for the Aedes mosquito starts in August, as India's annual monsoon season beings to wind down.
"As of now 448 cases of dengue have been reported — 247 from New Delhi
and 201 from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana states," Shastri said Sunday.
Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are northern Indian states that border New
Delhi.
Last year, authorities reported four fatalities among a total of 217 dengue fever cases across India.
This year's outbreak has also hit New Delhi's All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, the country's premier state-run health institute. So
far, 19 doctors and students have fallen ill with the disease and one
has died.
NEW DELHI Thousands of health workers in New Delhi went door to door
Monday spraying pesticides to stop the spread of dengue fever, a
mosquito-borne disease that has killed 14 people in northern India in
the past six weeks, officials said.
New Delhi's health minister, Yoganand Shastri, told reporters the moves
to stop the spread of dengue were aimed at keeping the outbreak from
becoming an epidemic.
But if "the outbreak is not contained by Tuesday, we will declare it an epidemic," he told reporters.
Female Aedes mosquitoes transmit the disease, and symptoms include high
fever, joint pain, headache and vomiting. It is fatal in rare cases.
Eleven of the deaths have been in New Delhi, Shastri said, while three other people died in Uttar Pradesh.
As a 3-year-old girl, Nisha Dubey, died of suspected dengue in a
state-run village health center on the outskirts of Lucknow on Sunday,
her relatives mobbed the center alleging that the death occurred
because of a lack of medical attention.
"There were no doctors or paramedics present when we brought Nisha, who
was running a high fever, to the health center. My daughter died
waiting for treatment," R.K. Dubey told The Associated Press.
New Delhi is filled with pools of stagnating water where the insects
breed — they can be found everywhere from well-kept parks to
trash-strewn lots — and health workers on Monday sprayed pesticides and
fumigated homes, offices and shops, said N.K. Yadav, New Delhi's
municipal health officer.
Breeding season for the Aedes mosquito starts in August, as India's annual monsoon season beings to wind down.
"As of now 448 cases of dengue have been reported — 247 from New Delhi
and 201 from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana states," Shastri said Sunday.
Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are northern Indian states that border New
Delhi.
Last year, authorities reported four fatalities among a total of 217 dengue fever cases across India.
This year's outbreak has also hit New Delhi's All India Institute of
Medical Sciences, the country's premier state-run health institute. So
far, 19 doctors and students have fallen ill with the disease and one
has died.
The Associated Press
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