New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS) Seventy-two more cases of dengue were reported in the capital Sunday, taking the total number of people infected by the mosquito-borne disease to 2,296.
The disease has this year claimed five lives in the capital, including one from outside the city, a Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) official said.
The increasing number of cases – around 70 daily – has rung alarm bells for the MCD, which fears the total number of cases this year might cross the 2006 figure of 3,366.
According to the MCD, 1,153 dengue cases and three deaths were reported in 2009, 1,312 cases and two deaths in 2008, 548 cases and one death in 2007, and 3,366 cases and 36 deaths in 2006.
Dengue symptoms include high fever for four to five days, usually accompanied by a severe headache, pain in the eyes, muscles and joints and rashes. After the fever recedes, the blood platelet count starts dipping.
