Lepto claims 9 lives in just 2 months, overshoots 2017 toll

MUMBAI: The bacterial infection leptospirosis has emerged as the biggest killer in the first two months of monsoon this year, claiming a total of nine lives. Five of these deaths were reported in the last two weeks alone, said the BMC on Tuesday.
Leptospirosis claimed seven lives in the whole of last year. The downpour and subsequent flooding in the first ten days of July caused a spurt in leptospirosis that commonly spreads after contact with contaminated water.This year, the city saw the second highest monthly rainfall for July since 2012. Barring one girl from Malad, all casualties, including three teenagers and four in their 20s, were men. The number of hospitalizations too jumped from five in June to nearly 100 in July. Around 76% of the positive cases were in men.

Cholera cases too have emerged as a cause for concern. The BMC said there were six positive cases in the last two weeks, of which three were reported from Byculla and Mazgaon while one each were detected in B (Dongri, Masjid), L (Kurla) and T (Mulund) wards. This season, a total of eight cases have been reported, highest since 2014 which saw 34 incidences. The BMC said two of the latest five lepto deceased lived in Sion and Dharavi. G-south (Worli), S (Bhandup) and Rnorth (Borivli) wards reported adeath each. One of the victims, a 42-year-old man with an underlying condition of hypertension and diabetes, developed fever, chills, vomiting and loose motions.
“He got gastroenteritis with leptospirosis and acute renal condition with breathing problem,” said a civic official. Another 46-year-old victim, with similar underlying conditions and a history of wading through flooded waters, had a shoe bite on his leg. “The man visited a doctor but stopped treatment midway to take ayurvedic medicines for jaundice. He died of acute kidney injury and liver involvement after remaining hospitalised for ten days,” said an official.
BMC’s executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar cautioned against self-medication. A 21-year-old youth from Sion who had TB developed fever and breathing difficulty with bleeding in the lungs. Civic officials said he had self-medicated and got hospitalised after symptoms were not relieved. Cases of dengue, malaria, gastroenteritis and hepatitis too witnessed a big spurt in July. Hospitalisations due to dengue-like illnesses saw a three-fold jump in July.