There is growing disquiet as the Aedes aegypti overcomes urban India’s feeble, staccato efforts to control it and spreads mutated versions of dengue, chikungunya and related, yet-untracked viruses. There is no reliable data on the spread of dengue and chikungunya, and there is no cure for either. Four years later, dengue, too, started to expand its relatively low-key presence in 16 states to the rest of India. “Dengue disease continues to involve newer areas, newer populations and is increasing in magnitude, epidemic after epidemic,” noted a 2012 study in the Indian Journal Of Medical Research. This shuffling of genes at accelerated rates allows them to constantly probe the human immune system: small breaches produce milder disease strains, big breaches may cause death.

Source: Mint September 15, 2016 16:52 UTC