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Mosquito-borne diseases kill 87 in India

Infection Control Monitor, October 6, 2006

Outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases in northern and southern India have overwhelmed hospitals and clinics with patients, and are blamed for the deaths of at least 87 people, according to health officials.

The Indian government called an emergency meeting of health officials on Tuesday to try and control an outbreak of dengue fever that has infected about 500 people in northern India, overwhelming New Delhi hospitals, reported the October 3 New York Times. The dengue outbreak began in late August, and the death toll in New Delhi and the surrounding area rose to 16 this week. Authorities began spraying high-risk areas with insecticide to kill the mosquitoes that carry the disease.

The situation was even worse in the southern state of Kerala, where 71 people have died in the past month from another mosquito-borne disease, a rare viral fever known as chikungunya, according to the Associated Press. In the hardest-hit district, some 40,000 people showed symptoms of the disease, such as high fevers and severe joint pain, and thousands had been hospitalized.

The outbreaks came as the annual monsoon tapers off, leaving behind pools and puddles of dirty, stagnant water where infectious mosquitoes breed.

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