First finding is in: JE virus was picked up in city

Of the four,three are children from Bawana and Jahangirpuri in North West Delhi while the fourth is an HIV positive woman from Gole Market in New Delhi.

Dr V K Monga,chairperson of the MCD public health committee,said: “After the JE virus enters the body,it only takes between 5-15 days for the symptoms to manifest. This is known as the incubation period of the virus. No patient appears to have travelled to any endemic area in the last month.” He said though two patients had travelled to UP in February and July,the virus was contracted in the last 15 days.

The vector-borne disease is carried by a female mosquito of the Culex tritaeniorhynchus species. “The virus is found in pigs and cattle. A mosquito which bites any infected cattle becomes a vector and can spread it to human beings. It has a very high mortality rate of 20-40 per cent. This is the first time that cases have been confirmed in Delhi,so we are worried,” Dr Monga said.

Both MCD and NDMC said they have taken immediate measures to control the spread of the virus. “We have carried out intensive fogging and anti-larval treatment activities within a 2 km diameter of the area of residence of the patients in North West Delhi on Friday,” Dr Monga said. NDMC health officer Dr P K Sharma said similar measures had been taken in the Gole Market area.

Health department officials confirmed that 9-year-old Nasir from the JJ cluster in Bawana,10-year-old Yogesh from K-block jhuggi in Jahangirpuri,5-year-old Radhika from E-block jhuggi in Jahangirpuri and a middle-aged HIV-positive woman from Gole Market have tested positive.

Dr R P Vashisht,state programme officer of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP),said: “None of the four patients are in a serious condition. All of them are responding to treatment.” The two children from Jahangirpuri reported at Delhi government’s Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital but were referred to private hospitals under the EWS quota.

Dr J N Mohanty,Medical Superintendent at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital,said: “The children came to us last week,but we referred them to Sunder Lal Jain and B L Kapur Super Specialty hospitals for better management under the EWS quota. The test reports confirming them as JE have only come this week.”

Nasir is recuperating at the Maharishi Valmiki Hospital in Pooth Khurd. “He had stiffness in the neck and high temperature. Being a viral disease,treatment of JE is based on symptoms as they present themselves. Nasir is doing well,” said Dr Kirti Bhushan,Medical Superintendent of Maharishi Valmiki Hospital.

The Sunder Lal Jain Hospital confirmed that Radhika is also responding to treatment. A spokesperson for B L Kapur Specialty Hospital said Yogesh is in the paediatric ICU. “We didn’t know earlier because the report from NICD has come in now,confirming it.”

NDMC health officer Dr P K Sharma said the woman from Gole Market who had tested positive had been treated and discharged from RML Hospital.