Already facing struggles during the coronavirus pandemic, Delhi is seeing anupsurge in the number of dengue cases as the doctors are battling a dual crisis.

The matter is getting complicated as there is a connection between the primary symptoms of COVID-19 and dengue. This together with intersecting parameters of the two ailments is making the medical professionals to struggle as they are trying to manage the increasing cases of the two infections.

As per the Indian Express report, doctors at the AIIMS have found themselves in a complex situationas a 30-year-old woman tested positive for both COVID-19 and dengue, and came to the hospital for treatment. She has been successfully treated. On 23rd August, the woman visited the hospital’s medical emergency with symptoms such as moderate grade fever, chills, joint pain, body pain and fatigue. But she did not have any respiratory symptoms of sore throat, cough and breathlessness.

Doctors discovered that her platelet count was very low. ACOVID-19 test was done as she was having fever. The test came positive. Dr Ashutosh Biswas, professor of medicine, AIIMS, said that they were suspecting dengue as the patient had fever, muscle and joint pain with low platelet count. The woman tested positive for dengue NS1 antigen also.

However, in a majority of the cases, patients can test negative for dengue in 5-7 days, but this woman remained positive till the 10th day of illness. This is a rare finding in this case and the reason is not clear as the infectivity period of dengue (NS1+ve) is increased in the presence of COVID-19 infection.

The woman was discharged after nine days of stay in the hospital. More than 50 dengue patients were admitted to AIIMS till September this year. Out of them, 42 were admitted after the coronavirus pandemic appeared in India. Only one among them had co-infection. Delhi has seen 131 cases of dengue and 114 malaria cases till now.

In COVID-19 and dengue, approximately 80% of patients are asymptomatic. As the season changes, the number of dengue and COVID cases might increase cause more worry.

In the meantime, Delhi reported 3,229 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the tally to over 2.21 lakh, whereas the death count reached 4,770. According to the Delhi governments recent health bulletin, 26 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours.

Source: News 18