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Delhi's Richest Areas Hit By Dengue as City Prepares for Games
2010-09-12 23:22:09.53 GMT
By Mehul Srivastava
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The tree-lined neighborhoods where
New Delhi's executives and entrepreneurs live have become prime
breeding grounds for a deadly scourge.
A dengue outbreak in the city has been concentrated in
areas with rooftop tanks, lotus ponds and flowerbeds as
mosquitoes lay their eggs in the standing water, doctors say.
India's health ministry confirmed 1,438 cases of dengue in
a city more commonly afflicted by diseases endemic to the poor
such as malaria, tuberculosis and diarrhea. The outbreak may be
fueled by the city's $4.6 billion preparations for next month's
Commonwealth Games, as the heaviest monsoon in 15 years leaves
pools of water at construction sites.
"In Delhi, dengue is a disease that spreads best in the
kind of neighborhoods that only the upper-middle class and rich
live in," said Sandeep Budhiraja, a doctor at the city's Max
Max Institute of Medicine. "I've treated at least five CEOs
this week alone."
The hospital, a few minutes' walk from India's largest
shopping mall in the upper middle-class Saket neighborhood,
offers patients recovery rooms with flat-screen televisions.
Dengue, mostly spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is
entrenched in more than 100 countries, making it the most
widespread tropical disease after malaria. Dengue-related
complications cause about 500,000 hospitalizations a year,
mostly of children, the World Health Organization said.
Symptoms
Dengue causes sudden fever, severe headaches, and muscle
and joint aches lasting up to 10 days, according to the WHO. It
can trigger a potentially fatal drop in white blood cells and
platelets, leading to excessive bleeding.
The disease is spread by female mosquitoes. The insects
contract the virus when biting an infected person, and then they
transmit it when feeding on a healthy person.
About 3 percent of cases are fatal, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Indian
newspapers reported as many as five deaths in the latest
outbreak. The health ministry told Bloomberg News it didn't have
any data on fatalities.
Sanofi-Aventis SA, based in Paris, is leading an effort
begun by U.S. scientists in the 1940s to develop a vaccine
capable of protecting against the four types of dengue. The
medicine is in the second of three stages of human studies that
regulators usually require.
Southern Hospitals
The French drugmaker said last year it may seek regulatory
approval as early as 2015.
Budhiraja and other doctors said the health ministry's
number of cases likely was too low. He said he has seen 1,500
cases in his hospital alone since July.
"And this is just the beginning of September," he said.
"Just wait for a few weeks."
What makes southern New Delhi more susceptible than the
slums and crowded settlements in the north is its continual
supply of fresh water. Bloomberg News contacted eight hospitals
in the southern part of the city, and doctors and spokesmen
estimated a combined 2,442 cases of dengue. Seven hospitals
contacted by Bloomberg News in the northern part of the city
estimated a combined 923 cases.
"Unlike for other diseases, as tropical countries become
wealthier, dengue does not tend to decrease in incidence," said
Peter Ryan, head of the mosquito control laboratory at the
Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia. "Instead,
the problem often exacerbates."
Piped Water
New Delhi's municipal corporation supplies piped water for
only two or three hours a day, so those who can afford to buy
water pumps and tanks to store their daily requirements.
"I suspect that in Delhi, the majority of mosquitoes that
are carrying dengue are coming from houses that resort to
storing water such as this," Ryan said.
Slums such as Jagdamba Camp and Sadar Bazaar are home to 3
million of New Delhi's 14 million residents, the Center for
Civil Society estimated in 2009. People living there often get
water from trucks that sell it for as much as 25 cents for four
liters.
New Delhi's efforts to spruce itself up before the
Commonwealth Games starting Oct. 3 also are creating favorable
breeding conditions for mosquitoes carrying dengue. Government
preparations for the 71-country sporting event include digging
new subway routes, refurbishing or building from scratch 20
stadiums, and rebuilding roads and bridges.
"Construction sites with tarpaulin that collect rainwater,
pipes lying around, lift shafts or even buckets are perfect for
dengue," said Scott Ritchie, a medical entomologist at the
Tropical Public Health Unit in Cairns, Australia.
Fear of dengue infections prompted the United Kingdom,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand to issue travel advisories to
its athletes competing in the games and ask them to wear
protective clothing and use mosquito repellants.
Sick Cyclists
Three members of India's 27-person cycling team caught
dengue while practicing on New Delhi streets, and the team moved
its training to Punjab, Cycling Federation of India Secretary
V.N. Singh said by telephone.
The Hindustan Times newspaper reported last week that the
city asked the Indian army to help pump water from games-related
construction sites. Kiran Walia, the minister for health, did
not return a call made to her office seeking comment.
Greater Kailash Enclave resident Anjum Khan, 19, her skin
pale and her breathing shallow, sat in a hospital room waiting
to be discharged after a week of receiving platelet transfusions
and painkillers for dengue. The fashion-school student switched
hospitals twice because they ran out to platelets.
"I am not sure where I caught it," Anjum said as her
mother packed her belongings. "It was very painful."
--With assistance from Jason Gale in Singapore. Editors: Michael
Tighe, Bret Okeson.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mehul Srivastava in New Delhi at +91-11-4179-2010 or
msrivastava6@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Bret Okeson at +81-3-3201-8335 or
bokeson@bloomberg.net
