Dengue fear grips India as receding flood water may act as a catalyst
India TodayParts of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Assam were ravaged by floods this year. Surging dengue cases spurred protests in West Bengal Dengue cases in Delhi at five-year high Karnataka reported over 4,500 cases between January and July 2023 Dengue larvae were found in over 1,000 houses in Haryana’s Karnal district “When an area becomes flooded, the populations and territories of many vectors, especially mosquitoes, may initially vanish, but when the water subdues after rainfall, they return to these areas as receding flood water can provide ideal breeding sites for them,” noted a 2023 study published by the Cambridge University Press. At 67,271 cases, West Bengal accounted for a maximum of 29 per cent of India’s dengue cases last year. Going by the trend for the past six years as well, the state witnessed the highest number of dengue cases — 13 per cent of pan-India cases. “Between 1951-60 and 2012-21, the number of months appropriate for A aegypti dengue transmission in India increased by 1·69 per cent every year to 5.6 months,” showed a 2023 report published in The Lancet.