Doctors at odds over death risk from virus

Doctors are at odds over whether chikungunya has been causing deaths in the city, with some asserting only 0.1 per cent people run the risk of dying due to its complications while other medical professionals attribute the fatalities to the vectorborne disease.

“One out of 1,000 people, i.e., 0.1 per cent run the risk of dying due to chikungunya complications and that too if the patient has co-morbid conditions. Chikungunya is otherwise non-fatal,” AIIMS Head of the Department of Medicine Dr S K Sharma said.

At least 15 fatalities due to chikungunya complications have been reported at various city hospitals, including one at AIIMS, while more than 2,600 people have been affected by the mosquito-borne fever this season.

“If one analyses the deaths attributed to chikungunya being reported in Delhi, you would realise that most of them had co-morbid conditions, like hypertension or diabetes or kidney or other renal problems. Chikungunya as such cannot cause death,” AIIMS Director Dr M C Misra said.

But doctors at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), where nearly half of these deaths have been recorded, say it was chikungunya that precipitated the death.

“Yes, most of these patients were old and had comorbidity, but why are people finding it hard to believe that chikungunya cannot cause death. There are six crore [60 million] diabetic people in Delhi, nearly 1.5 million suffer from blood pressure problems, they weren’t dying earlier.

“The seven persons, who died here, were elderly people and suffered complications triggered by chikungunya and succumbed. Why are we so embarrassed to admit that these deaths were due to chikungunya? As per WHO [World Health Organisation] reports, chikungunya outbreak in France and the US and South America have caused deaths,” Chairman of Department of Medicine at SGRH, Dr S P Byotra said.