884 malaria cases in city last month, double of June 2024
According to the BMC data, Mumbai recorded 105 cases of dengue and 936 of gastroenteritis last month. Doctors said admissions surged in the month but no mortality was reported. Monsoon arrived in the city on May 26, a fortnight earlier than the usual onset date of June 11, which could have contributed to the rise. The monsoon diseases were accompanied by 551 Covid cases in June, which dropped to nil by the end of the month.
A BMC official said the rise in monsoon diseases is not unexpected, especially in a densely populated city with high migration rates. "Our reporting units and surveillance system have become better, which is why we are detecting more malaria cases."
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Doctors across private hospitals are seeing a continuous flow of vector-borne disease cases, with many reporting an uptick in patients from housing societies and densely packed residential areas.
"Every week, we're seeing around 12-15 malaria and dengue cases," said Dr Hemalata Arora, internal medicine specialist at Nanavati Hospital. She said dengue cases are likely being underreported. A health department official said the disease usually surges after July.
A blood bank official at one of the civic hospitals in the city said the demand for platelets, which surges in monsoon because of high dengue cases, has not picked up as of now.
"Recovery is high in dengue and even in malaria, particularly because we are not seeing much falciparum malaria, which tends to be more severe," Dr Arora said. Falciparum malaria usually makes up 10-20% of all malaria cases, according to health officials.
Gastroenteritis cases, however, have become a cause for worry. "We saw 30-40 OPD cases of gastroenteritis every week in June," said Dr Vimal Pahuja, consultant physician at Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital in Powai.
"Lab tests point to a mix of viral diarrhoea and bacterial infections."
Dr Gautam Bhansali, infectious diseases specialist at Bombay Hospital, linked the surge in gastroenteritis to monsoon-related contamination. "Many patients report consuming food from outside. We're seeing several such cases, particularly among people under 30," he said.
He said in the last two weeks of June, dengue and malaria surged. "Doctors have also started testing immediately, which means even those who are treated at OPD are in the numbers. There have been co-infection patients as well, but very few with high recovery and no admissions."
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