Pune Mirror
19 November 2009
By Dipti Barve
Pune, India

City records 49 cases of dengue in October. Authorities report zero cases in November. Such a quick ‘Disappearance’ in a fortnight makes this a…

While the city continues to be in the red for swine flu, there is a greater cause for concern.

After an uproar over the increasing cases of dengue in the city – with their number touching 49 in October – it seems that the authorities are fast trying to push the facts under the carpet. Now, within a fortnight, they are saying there are no more dengue cases in the city.

Dr. Pandurang Pawar, medical superintendent of Sassoon General Hospital, told Pune Mirror, “We have not recorded a single case of dengue in the last fortnight.

There are some cases of viral fever whose symptoms were similar to dengue, but the patients did not test positive for dengue. Due to changes in climate, such viral fever can occur. Dengue is now under control in PMC areas.”

But haematologist Samir Melinkeri says it’s not a time to go easy on health precautions. He said, “I am still getting cases of dengue every day.

I have seen that people who test negative in the first week of the fever, go on to test positive in the second week. So people should not relax if the test report is negative in the first week.

They should go in for another test if symptoms persist in the next week. In the first two–three days, dengue results in a fall in the platelet count. After that, the body starts producing antibodies against the infection.”

According to data available with the state health department, PCMC registered the highest number of patients infected by dengue. From January to October this year, there have been 362 cases of dengue reported from this area.

Month	Dengue cases
January	1
February	0
March	2
April	2
May	4
June	19
July	16
August	18
September	14
October	49
November	0