Winter may mark fall in dengue cases in Delhi (Lead)

The onset of winter may reduce dengue cases in the national capital with health officials Friday saying a fall in temperature will affect the breeding of mosquitoes.

"We are expecting a drop in the dengue cases in coming days due to fall in maximum and minimum temperatures. The dip in mercury prevents the breeding of mosquitoes," Debashish Bhattacharya, nodal officer for dengue cases, told IANS.

The national capital reported 39 new dengue cases Friday, taking the number of people affected by the vector-borne disease in the capital to 749. Two deaths due to dengue have been recorded, a 15-year-old boy and a nine-year-old boy.

According to Bhattacharya, the civic authorities have also initiated a crackdown by imposing fines on people for allowing water to stagnate, which leads to the breeding of mosquitoes that act as carriers of the disease.

Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia Friday said that from now on under no circumstances will suspected patients be labeled as confirmed dengue patients based on the Rapid Test alone.

"The confirmation could be either through ELLISA NS1 Antigen Test or ELLISA Antibody Test (MAC ELLISA) only. This test is available free in all government hospitals," she added.

Walia said that these instructions have been issued to all medical superintendents of government hospitals under the Delhi Government.

The decision was taken in a meeting of microbiologists and experts from the government hospitals as well as from the private hospitals in the capital which was chaired by Walia at Delhi Secretariat here.

Last updated on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 21:48 pm IST--IANS