10-05-2006, 01:01 AM
<b>87 die from mosquito diseases in India </b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>India's health minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, blamed the spike in cases this year on a construction boom in New Delhi, where scores of new malls, high-rise apartment towers and office blocks are going up and a new subway system is being built.
The result of the largely unregulated building boom is a city filled with poorly maintained construction sites where water collects in pits, adding to the already ample mosquito breeding grounds, Ramadoss told reporters.</b>
"There is a lot of stagnant water collecting in places due to construction activity. We are aware of the health risks posed by this and have begun a concerted campaign to make people aware of the need for sanitation," Ramadoss said.
Female Aedes mosquitoes transmit the disease, and symptoms include high fever, joint pain, headache and vomiting. It is fatal in rare cases. India's annual outbreak normally dies off with the end of the mosquito breeding period in November.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->