New Delhi struggles with mosquito-borne diseases

NEW DELHI — Poonam Devi moans in pain on the stretcher in the packed hospital emergency room, her ankles and wrists swollen, an IV hooked up to left arm to hydrate her.

Patients like her, fevered, aching, unable to walk or sit on their own, are packing hospitals across New Delhi because of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne viral illness. In the Indian capital alone, cases of chikungunya soared to 3,251 so far this year from just 64 last year, according to government data. Last year it was dengue, another viral ailment transmitted by mosquitoes, that infected thousands.

The cycle of illness and packed hospital “fever clinics” plays out every year as monsoon rains fill puddles and open drains in the teeming city, creating swarms of mosquitoes that thrive in the warm, damp weather.

Some years it’s mainly dengue; in others, it’s mostly chikungunya. The epidemics start promptly in August and stay for months, sickening tens of thousands and killing dozens, each year seeming to catch the government and population unprepared for it.

“Everyone in our neighborhood is getting it,” said Devi’s sister, Susheela, who goes by one name. She sat holding her sister’s hand inside Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, one of the city’s largest government-run hospitals. A portion of the hospital’s emergency room has been set aside for chikungunya patients like Devi.

Dengue and chikungunya have killed at least 20 people in the capital so far this year, according to news reports. But statistics on the illnesses are probably conservative since the poorest people in this city of 16 million never see a doctor or a hospital. Both diseases are treated only for their symptoms, reducing the fever and relieving the aches, until the infection passes. As a result, tens of thousands of people are tested at private laboratories and treated at private clinics, which don’t report on what made their patients sick unless the government specifically asks.

Experts say responsibility for controlling diseases spread by mosquitoes cannot be the government’s alone. Officials conduct public-awareness advertising campaigns urging people to wear long sleeves, use mosquito repellent and get rid of standing water. But the advice is routinely ignored.

To date, no cases of Zika have been reported in India.