Mumbai: During the first half of Sept, vector-borne illnesses surged at an alarming pace across Mumbai, with malaria and dengue cases reported in just the first 15 days of the month already reaching over half of the total counts recorded for the entire month of Aug.Between Sept 1 and Sept 15, 1,499 cases of malaria (2,450 in Aug), 598 cases of dengue (831 in Aug), 13 cases of chikungunya (32 in Aug), 22 cases of leptospirosis (144 in Aug), 96 cases of gastro (500 in Aug), and 47 cases of H1N1 (336 in Aug) were recorded.Doctors said they have also been seeing co-infected patients. Dr Gautam Bhansali, a senior consultant physician at Bombay Hospital, has seen patients rushing in with both dengue and malaria simultaneously.“One falciparum malaria patient had to be in the ICU a couple of weeks ago. This can happen when patients arrive late with high-grade fever, shivering, and a drop in platelet count. Then it is very difficult to treat,” he said.Dr Hemlata Arora, internal medicine specialist at Nanavati Hospital, added that hospitalisation for both dengue and malaria has seen a spike.The health department said the areas of E Ward (Hans Road, Madanpura Road, Agripada), L Ward (Indira Nagar, Bharati Nagar and Barve Nagar), P East Ward (Gandhi Nagar, Kurar Village, Appa Pada), N Ward (M G Road, R B Mehta Road, Ramabai Colony), S Ward (Tagore Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, Sonapur and Tulshet Pada) have been seeing most cases of dengue, malaria and chikungunya.They said monitoring has been intensified in these areas accordingly, and residents are advised to take precautions and preventive measures.Dr Manjusha Agarwal, a senior consultant in internal medicine at Gleneagles Hospital, said she noticed a steady uptick in chikungunya, which carries a lot of long-term morbidity. “I have had chikungunya patients who have been following up with me for a year due to complications. Dengue and malaria can still be managed quite well medically.”She added that leptospirosis, which had ticked up in July and Aug, has now declined. “We saw one death due to lepto, but the person had pre-existing comorbidities and was over 60,” said Dr Agarwal.Most lepto cases have been saturated around H East ward (Santacruz East, Vakola, Bandra East), R North ward (Dahisar, Koknipada, Rawalpada), K East ward (Andheri East, Marol, Jogeshwari East), K West ward (Andheri West, Vile Parle West, Juhu), M East ward (Chembur, Bharat Nagar, Vashi Naka) and F North ward (Matunga, Wadala, Sion).A total of 9,842 people were provided with preventive treatment for lepto after they reported wading through waterlogged areas with injuries or cuts on their foot.This month, BMC surveyed 5,94,269 houses and 27,93,193 people, and a total of 32,114 blood samples were collected from people who reported feeling unwell.
