Delhi Govt Panel Rules Out Chikungunya as Primary Cause of Deaths

Ever since the first death was reported, there has been a debate on whether chikungunya can prove fatal or not.

Ever since the disease broke out, a debate on it has ensued in the national capital. (Photo: Reuters)

The committee set up by the Delhi government to review cases of death attributed to dengue and chikungunya complications in Delhi has “ruled out” chikungunya as the primary cause of fatality and said it was “co-morbid conditions” in its patients which led to their deaths.

Hospitals in the city have reported at least 30 deaths this season due to complications triggered by chikungunya which has also affected over 1,700 people in Delhi.

The committee in its report, which was released on Saturday, by the Delhi government, has, however, only reviewed nearly 20 cases. Review of some of the cases are still awaited, for “lack of documents” from the hospitals.

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Doctors say that chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and elderly persons.

Ever since the first death due to “chikungunya complications” was reported, there has been a debate as to whether chikungunya can prove fatal or not.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has also repeatedly said that “according to medical literature, chikungunya cannot kill, and therefore people need not panic.”

Most of the victims were old people, and had some sort of medical history, he said.

Two elderly persons, both aged above 70 and belonging to Delhi, died on 15 September of chikungunya complications at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital — seventh to have died at SGRH in the last one week.

Out of the 15 deaths, Apollo Hospital has reported five, while AIIMS, Hindu Rao Hospital and Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute recorded one death each.

However, family of Gulab Chand Gupta (70), from Lajpat Nagar in south Delhi, who died on 12 September of acute febrile illness with septic shock and multi-organ failure, claimed, “he was fit and had no medical history”.