Via The Times of India: Dengue, malaria cases on the rise in Pune. Excerpt:
PUNE: This monsoon, cases of dengue and malaria in the city are on the rise. Representative data of three hospitals and one accredited pathology laboratory has revealed 73 dengue and 41 malaria cases in last 40 days. However, the actual number of patients down with dengue and malaria is likely to be higher as only about 20% of such cases need hospitalisation.
Accumulation of water, increasing construction activity, piling up of garbage, lack of public awareness vis-a-vis personal anti-mosquito measures, and inadequate mosquito management have aggravated the situation, say experts.
"We have tested blood samples of 108 patients for dengue in the last 40 days. Of them, 25 have tested positive. We test at least one positive dengue case every day at our lab," said pathologist Awanti Golwilkar-Mehendale of the Golwilkar Metropolis Laboratory, which is among the few accreditated path labs in Pune.
Surgeon Dhananjay Kelkar, medical director of the Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital added: "Since July, we have found 18 positive dengue cases and 7 malaria cases till date. All of these tests were carried out at our in-house pathology laboratory."
Sahyadri Hospital, Deccan branch, also reported steady flow of dengue and malaria cases. "Since July, we have treated 17 positive dengue cases and 21 malaria cases at our hospital till date. The blood samples were tested at our in-house pathlab of our hospital's Deccan branch," said Rajkumar Ambad, chief operative officer of the Sahyadri group of hospitals.
Lajpatrai Arya, chief operating officer, Jehangir hospital, said they had treated 13 positive dengue cases and 11 confirmed malaria cases since June.
