Central Team Confirms Dengue Outbreak In UP's Firozabad: Sources

Apart from Firozabad, other districts in western UP - like Mathura and Agra - have also reported cases, and hospitals are filled with patients with viral fever and dehydration

More than 60 people, including 50 children have died 'dengue haemorrhagic fever' - a severe form of the dengue virus - in western Uttar Pradesh over the past 10 days. The majority of those cases - 50, including 40 children - were reported from Firozabad district and surrounding areas. Union Health Ministry sources have told NDTV that more than 50 per cent of the approximately 200 samples collected from Firozabad and nearby areas had tested positive for dengue. "A team from the WHO (World Health Organization) told me this is 'haemorrhagic dengue', which is very dangerous... platelet count of children collapses suddenly and there is a lot of bleeding," Chandra Vijay Singh, the Firozabad district magistrate, also said. A six-member team from the NCDC, or National Centre for Disease Control - consisting of entomologists and experts in vector-borne diseases - has been rushed to the affected areas.