Five more deaths take Chikungunya toll to 18

He also asked for a detailed report from the Delhi government on the deaths due to dengue and chikungunya.

IgM-ELISA and Reverse Transcription-Polymerase ChainReaction (RT-PCR) are the two main tests used to detectchikungunya in patients.A senior doctor at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital says the viralstrain in patients diagnosed with chikungunya at its hospitalare “showing different behaviour” for the two tests. A top AIIMS official had on Wednesday confirmed five deaths, which were earlier suspected to have taken place due to dengue.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain made the appeal as numerous dengue and chikungunya patients come to Delhi hospitals from other states. Singh died due to multi organ failure triggered by chikungunya. “Have assured all support to the Delhi government and the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for tackling the rising cases of dengue and chikungunya”, Nadda said.

Mr Jain also requested the Central Government to open clinics at local level so as to save time of the patients, who come from far places just for check-ups.

Authorities at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, “One more person suffering from chikungunya is in the ICU”. “But one should get admitted only if the doctor advises them to do so and not because they are scared”, he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the people in West Bengal have tested positive for malaria also.

As the outcry over an onslaught of viral diseases in the Capital reaches fever-pitch and hospitals continue to struggle under an unrelenting tide of patients, the men and women in white have also started to fall ill. The World Health Organisation said that in recent years, globalisation of travel and trade, unplanned urbanisation and environmental challenges including climate change has had a “significant” impact on transmission of vector-borne diseases. The Centre has asked all big hospitals to reserve 10% of beds for dengue and chikungunya patients.

“Children younger than one year and adults aged 65 years or older have the highest incidence of CHIKV-associated encephalitis”, he said, while claiming such cases are occurring in Delhi.

The Indian capital Delhi is battling a health crisis owing to the outbreak of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus.

At least 1,158 cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital with almost 390 of them being recorded in the first 10 days of September, the month in which the vector-borne disease begins to peak.

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According to municipal corporation data, the number of dengue, chikungunya and malaria infection in Delhi stood at 1,158, 1,057 and 21 respectively. Karnataka alone has recorded 8,941.