Dengue killed 250 people, infected 1.5 lakh this year: Data

India reported more than 1.5 lakh cases of dengue this year and 250 people died of the mosquito-borne disease, while over 60,000 cases of chikungunya were reported across the country, official data showed.
The data - compiled till December 24 from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) under the Union Health Ministry - showed that there have been 250 dengue deaths, while 1,57,220 cases have been reported across the country.
The maximum dengue deaths were reported from Tamil Nadu, where the disease claimed 63 lives out of the total 23,035 cases reported.
Tamil Nadu was followed by Maharashtra, where 41 people died from dengue out of the total 7,442 cases reported.

As many as 37 deaths were reported from Kerala while the disease claimed the lives of 28 people in Uttar Pradesh.
Last year, during the same time period, the disease claimed 245 lives, while 1,29,166 cases were reported.

In Delhi, the NVBDCP data showed that the disease claimed nine lives, while 9,232 dengue cases were reported.
For chikungunya, the data showed that 62,268 cases were reported across the country compared to 64,057 cases last year.
As many as 31,644 chikungunya cases were reported in Karnataka this year, while 934 cases in the national capital.
The government has said that it has initiated a multi- centric cross-sectional study spanning five geographical regions to estimate the seroprevalence of the dengue infections in the country.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda in a written reply to the Lok Sabha recently said that the study was being coordinated by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai.