Doctors alarmed by rise of dengue cases in city

Dengue cases are on the rise at certain localities in the city due to the onset of monsoon, according to doctors.

Consultant general physician at KIMS Hospitals Dr K. Shivaraj said the hospital had got several cases from the areas of Begumpet, Kompally, Uppal and surrounding areas. “There has been a rise in dengue cases. On an average, we are getting 5-7 suspected cases of dengue per day, and some of them test positive. About 3-4 out of every 10 patients require hospitalisation. People should be highly alert, as dengue is now a bigger concern than Covid,” he said.

Professor and HOD, paediatric department, Niloufer Hospital, Dr T. Usha Rani said the hospital usually received many cases from areas in Old City during the previous years. She said areas which had a lot of construction activity and nalas could see a high number of cases.

She said there was a major spike in dengue cases every 3-4 years, and that could happen this year too, going by the number of cases received during the pre-monsoon period. Earlier such a spike was seen in 2019, when as many as 70-80 cases per week were reported from Mahbubnagar district.

“We are getting about 1020 clinical cases (suspected cases) of dengue per week, of which 2-3 get confirmed. The discrepancy between suspected and confirmed cases is because the antigen and antibody tests for dengue are not reliable,” she said. Patients who showed the same symptoms as dengue and also responded to the treatment are classified as cases of clinical dengue.

Last year, results of a survey conducted by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s (GHMC) entomology wing showed that about 60 per cent of the cases in 2021 were from the same set of localities in which clusters were reported in 2019. These included areas in the Secunderabad, Serilingampally and Khairatabad zones.