Times of India
14 October 2011
By , Pratibha Masand
Mumbai , India

As the monsoon draws to a thundering finish, the civic body’s health report card reveals that while vector–borne diseases like malaria and dengue had a muted sting when compared to 2010, water–borne diseases such as gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, jaundice and typhoid raged through the city. This year, the number of malaria deaths dropped by 77% from 2010; according to BMC’s records of a total of 12,778 cases, around 22 people succumbed to the disease. Last year, the civic recorded 14,814 malaria cases and 99 deaths.se BMC’s high–risk area mapping, maintaining

systematic protocols and active vector–control all through the monsoon. This time, the higher administration of the corporation was in charge of controlling malaria outbreaks. We also conducted extensive awareness campaigns,” said Dr Daksha Shah, head of the BMC’s epidemiology cell.

The same could not be said for gastroenteritis. During the months of July and August, city doctors witnessed a spike in the number of people suffering from water–borne diseases like gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, jaundice and typhoid. More than 20 pregnant women across the city succumbed to typhoid in the two–month period. “What the mosquitoes didn’t do to the people, contaminated food and water did,” said Dr Hemant Thacker, who consults in Jaslok Hospital. “Rancid food made people so sick that we had to admit them and administer intra–venous treatments for not only diarrhoea and vomiting, but also dehydration and high blood pressure.”
But now that the monsoon is at its end, doctors are expecting another bout of dengue and flu.
Beware the common flu
Influenza A is sweeping through the city as citizens complain of runny noses, fever, respiratory problems, headache and body ache. Only some Influenza A subtypes like H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 are in circulation