The Times of India  10.08.2010

Fearing spurt in dengue cases, AIIMS revives prevention cell

NEW DELHI: With dengue tightening its grip on the city, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has reconstituted the Disease Prevention Response Outbreak Cell (DPROC) to monitor dengue cases. The cell was constituted during dengue outbreak in the the city in 2006. Experts fear that this year there is going to be an increase in dengue cases as the viral infection becomes more virulent every four years.

During the dengue outbreak in 2006, people from across the city, including the NCR region, went to AIIMS for getting tested. AIIMS authorities had a tough time trying to manage so many patients. "The cell will be responsible for preventing mosquito breeding and managing dengue patients at the institute. We are trying to work out a plan to ensure smooth management of patients. We will identify an area where dengue patients can be kept during an emergency like 2006,'' said Dr Bir Singh, in charge of DPROC, which was reconstituted last week.

According to sources, the decision to reconstitute DPROC was taken after AIIMS was served two notices from NDMC for mosquito breeding in the campus. "Breeding was found in the hospital and the junkyard near the car parking,'' said a source. This year, dengue cases have started coming very early. "We are getting a lot of positive cases now. Usually, we see an increase in the number of cases during September-October. This can be because of heavy rain this season. The weather is conducive for mosquito breeding,'' said Dr Shobha Broor, professor microbiology, AIIMS.

Experts fear that like 2006, this year again the number of cases is going to be high as dengue is a cyclic infection which becomes more virulent every four years. "This happens because with an increase in population every year, there are new cases. These get clubbed with old cases who were not affected in the previous year or the year before that and with those who were affected by one particular strain. All these when put together increase the number of people who can get affected,'' said Dr Singh.

Eight new cases were reported on Monday and 121 cases have been reported so far by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. "We are witnessing an increase in the number of dengue cases with each passing day. In 2006, only six cases were reported till July 31 as against 52 this year,'' said Dr N K Yadav, MHO, MCD.