Mumbai recorded a significant dip in dengue cases last year: Report

In 2020, Mumbai saw a steep decline in communicable infections caused by typhoid, gastroenteritis, hepatitis A and E, dengue and H1N1. According to the municipal health department, the number of dengue cases has dropped by 86 per cent last year as compared to 2019.

In 2020, gastroenteritis cases dropped 67 per cent over the previous year, typhoid saw a 58.9 per cent decline and H1N1 cases reported a significant 90.2 per cent drop. Deaths due to these infections also fell slightly. Only malaria cases rose from 4,357 in 2019 to 5,007 in 2020.

Patients suffering from various other ailments due to corona have been deprived of treatment for a long time. However, the pesticide department of the municipality, which destroys mosquitoes like dengue and malaria, has taken an active part in the sanitation work.

In slums, although water resources are scarce, the practice of hand washing picked up soon after the pandemic began. In 2019, 2,658 typhoid cases were recorded in Mumbai, maximum between June and October due to the rains, which fell to 1,092 in 2020. During the peak monsoon season, there were only 38 cases in August, 47 in September and 55 in October against over 250-300 cases recorded in the corresponding months of 2019.

Hepatitis A and E cases dropped from 1,534 to 263, an 82 per cent decline from 2019 to 2020. The viral infection also spreads through unclean hands of those infected and also through contaminated food and water. With social distancing norms in place from March to December, gastroenteritis cases fell by 67 per cent — from 7,785 in 2019 to 2,549 in 2020.

The viral infection spreads through person-to-person contact, for instance a handshake with an infected person or through consumption of food. Moreover, behavioural change in eating habits and restrained consumption of street food led to overall decline in gastroenteritis cases.

H1N1 cases fell from 451 with five deaths in 2019 to 44 cases with zero deaths in 2020. While concerns have been raised over the possibility of low detection of other infections due to focus on COVID-19, ward-level medical officers said dispensaries did not notice a rise in monsoon-related ailments either.