By Kamil Zaheer NEW DELHI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - India needs to improve public sanitation standards dramatically to prevent outbreaks of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, which has killed 52 people and infected thousands in recent weeks, the health minister said on Wednesday. Anbumani Ramadoss's concern about India's grubby cities and towns came as officials said the country was also dealing with 1.3 million suspected cases of chikungunya, a disease transmitted by the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, that causes dengue as well. The outbreaks began in late August and health officials have been slammed for not anticipating the dangers of mosquito breeding in stagnant and filthy water collected during the monsoons. "We have a whole lot of diseases due to sanitation problems. We have to tackle this," Ramadoss told a news conference. "This is primarily a sanitation problem leading to health problems." Ramadoss, himself a doctor, said his ministry would develop a new approach to disease control and public sanitation with the help of civic authorities after the outbreaks are tackled. Health and urban planning experts say a construction boom in Indian cities has resulted in a proliferation of poorly-maintained building sites where rain water collects after monsoon rains, allowing mosquitoes to breed. The Indian capital has been one of the worst-affected by dengue this year, with 22 deaths in the city and surrounding areas, and over 1,100 infections. State hospitals are overcrowded with suspected cases. Both dengue and chikungunya cause high fever, muscular and joint pain, vomiting and rashes. Inspectors in New Delhi are entering homes to check if residents had emptied their water-coolers and spraying insecticides to control the outbreak. But many residents say it is not enough. "It's appalling. Drains are still choked despite the dengue scare," said Anita Chowdhury, a Delhi housewife whose middle-class neighbourhood has seen several dengue cases. "There was some fumigation done but that too for one or two days. The garbage dumps are still full." Since 2005, India has been facing outbreaks of several diseases that have been blamed largely on poor public hygiene. Last year, more than 1,500 children died in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after an encephalitis outbreak, also caused by mosquitoes, which pick up the virus from pigs and transfer it to humans. This year, parts of Uttar Pradesh were also hit by over 300 polio cases. (Additional reporting by Surojit Gupta)
