NEW DELHI, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- As many as 243 cases of mosquito-borne dengue disease had been reported in the Indian capital New Delhi in the past nine months, health officials said Tuesday.
Of the 243 cases, 106 were reported just in the past week, according to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, one of the four civic bodies in Delhi that also accounts figures from three other corporations -- New Delhi, East Delhi and North Delhi municipal bodies.
"In 2017, the number of dengue cases reported in in Delhi by the third week of September was 1,177, while it was a little over 800 cases the previous year," a health official said.
On the surge of dengue cases in the past week, officials said that a dry spell just after the end of monsoon season was largely responsible for the vector-borne disease. "October and November are usually the peak dengue season. So more cases are expected," he said.
Delhi witnessed its worst ever dengue outbreak in 2015 that affected over 16,000 people and claimed the lives of 60.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by dengue virus, spread by several species of mosquito of the Aedes type. Symptoms typically include high fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, vomiting, and a characteristic skin rash.
Though recovery generally takes two to seven days, the disease develops into life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding and low levels of blood platelets, or into dengue shock syndrome in a small proportion of cases.
