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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

India : Dengue, malaria cases drown doctors in Chennai

Via Deccan Chronicle, excerpt :

" Mosquitoes are on a rampage again in Chennai city, with cases of dengue fever and malaria flooding hospitals after last week’s rains.

Disturbing complications are keeping doctors busy, especially since there is no treatment or medication of choice for the dreaded dengue.

“What is alarming this year is that entire families are falling sick with dengue at the same time. We usually receive the children of a family with severe symptoms, but the mothers and fathers are also being affected,” says pediatrician Dr J. K. Reddy, who receives at least three cases a day.
Mass infections are being reported from city suburbs. Several construction sites had to halt work on Old Mahabalipuram Road, after scores of their workers contracted dengue and stayed out of work over the past week.

At Lister Metropolis laboratories, the rainy season is the busiest time of the year. “In the past 10 days, we have started seeing a spurt of monsoon-related ailments. In a week, we test 20 to 25 positive cases of dengue fever at the Nungambakkam facility alone,” says Monika Prabhakaran, consultant pathologist at the laboratory.

“Dengue is very deceptive—there are symptoms of high grade fever and body pain in the first two days, and then the fever subsides, leading both doctor and patient to think that it was ordinary viral fever."

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