The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi was hit by its first unconfirmed case of dengue fever on Sunday just hours before the event's opening ceremony. Indian lawn bowls manager Ruptu Gogoi was reported to have contracted the disease and was taken to hospital from the athletes' village, said the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.
The risk of athletes catching dengue fever was one of many concerns ahead of the Games, which endured a shambolic run-up involving the unfinished athletes' village, dangerous facilities and the threat of militant attack.
"Gogoi was not feeling well. He was taken to hospital from the Games village and some tests were done," president of the Indian Bowls Federation Sunaina Kuamri told PTI.
"There are more some test to be done, only then we could say whether it's dengue or not." Seven residents have died of dengue fever in Delhi this year in the worst outbreak for four years. Some officials have blamed the high number of cases on stagnant water at Games' venues and an unusually heavy monsoon.
The mosquito-borne disease causes a flu-like illness for most victims. One strain of it can cause internal bleeding. More than 420 people were killed and 10,250 hospitalised in the city's biggest dengue outbreak in 1996, according to government data. Municipal workers have been spraying anti-mosquito repellent through Delhi in recent weeks to control the outbreak.
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