Mumbai: The early onset of rains means the city is battling monsoon illnesses a month earlier than usual, with doctors reporting a noticeable rise in cases of dengue, malaria, typhoid and gastroenteritis. “In the last 15 days, I admitted more than a dozen dengue patients, including two needing ICU care,” said senior medical consultant Dr Gautam Bhansali from Bombay Hospital. A 70-year-old patient from Dahisar was brought a fortnight ago to the hospital’s casualty with high fever and a platelet count of 18,000, compared to the normal range of 1.5 lakh to 4 lakh per microlitre of blood. “She was in shock, a complication of dengue fever, and we feared the dropping platelet count would lead to internal bleeding.
Moreover, she had diabetes and hypertension,” said Dr Bhansali. A 23-year-old male from Worli was the other ICU patient with a low platelet count of 22,000. Both have since recovered and were discharged from hospital. An uptick in dengue cases is usually noticeable in the last week of June, as patients with very high fever for multiple days and body aches, among other symptoms, seek medical attention. For instance, Mumbai registered 93 dengue cases in June 2024, 535 in July 2024, and 1,013 in Aug 2024.
The city witnessed over 5,000 cases throughout 2024, according to BMC statistics. “Dengue cases have started rising early this year because of heavy rain for a few days last week,” said Dr
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