When comparing the data on the mosquito borne infections, dengue fever and malaria, from 2014 to 2015, it is noted that the number of dengue fever cases in the country has more than doubled last years numbers, while malaria cases appear slightly down compared to what was seen in 2014.

Public domain photo/Robin klein
Public domain photo/Robin klein

Indian health officials report through Nov. 15, 84,391 dengue cases have been recorded. This compares to 40,571 in all of 2014. The states and union territories (UT) reporting the most include Delhi (15,531), Punjab (12,628) and Haryana (8,021). All three states and UTs have reported dramatic increases in 2015 with 995, 472 and 214 cases reported in 2014, respectively.

The total dengue-related fatalities are also up, 170 year-to-date compared to 143 all of last year.

The Government of India provides technical guidelines to the States for prevention and control of dengue, including clinical management of dengue cases.

In 2014, India reported more than 1 million malaria cases (1,102,205) and 562 deaths. The malaria data in India for 2015 only goes through September but it appears the number of the parasitic infection are down.

For the first 9 months of the year, 792,234 malaria cases have been reported, including 217 deaths. Odisha state has seen the most by far at 330,000 cases followed by Chhattisgarh (85,145) and Jharkhand (63,670).

Measures including early case detection and complete treatment for malaria, strengthening of referral services, epidemic preparedness and rapid response are taken for prevention and control.

Robert Herriman is a microbiologist and the Editor-in-Chief of Outbreak News Today and the Executive Editor of The Global Dispatch

Follow @bactiman63

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