Dengue cases in 2012 highest in four years

Dengue cases reported this year across the country were on the higher side. Data presented in Rajya Sabha on November 27 has put the total number of dengue cases in the country at 35,066. The number of people who died of the disease totalled 216. This is provisional data for the year till November 15. These figures are the highest reported in the past four years.

At 9,249, Tamil Nadu reported the highest number of cases in the country, followed by West Bengal which reported 6,067 cases. The highest number of deaths were also reported in Tamil Nadu where 60 succumbed to the disease, followed by Maharashtra where 59 people died of dengue. In Maharahstra, a total of 1,464 cases were reported, suggesting that a higher percentage of people died in the state. This amounts to four per cent of the patients dying in Maharashtra compared to just 0.6 per cent in Tamil Nadu.

The deaths have been attributed to a variety of reasons, such as increase in population, unplanned urbanisation, inadequate waste management, water supply mismanagement, increased distribution and densities of vector mosquitoes (due to man-made, ecological and lifestyle changes), gaps in public health infrastructure, increased mobility of population and poor infrastructure in the states to monitor vector mosquito breeding.