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The Changing Face of Dengue in India Gurugram, India — When Nitin Sharma developed a high fever in May, dengue was the last thing on his mind. The monsoon was still weeks away, and like many Indians, he had grown up believing dengue was a disease that arrived with the rains and disappeared once the monsoon season ended. The Event Details However, a blood test revealed otherwise. Doctors diagnosed him with dengue fever. For nearly two weeks, Sharma remained away from work as weakness and fatigue persisted long after the fever subsided. His experience is becoming increasingly common, with hospitals across India reporting dengue infections weeks before the monsoon officially reached the southern state of Kerala. The Data Analysis According to the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), India reported 6,927 dengue cases by the end of February 2026. This figure has already exceeded the full January–May total of 2021 within just two months and is rapidly approaching the early-season burden seen in 2022. The southern state of Tamil Nadu accounts for the highest number of infections this year with 2,873 cases, followed by Maharashtra (786), Kerala (670), and Karnataka (560). The Impact Analysis Health experts warn that rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and rapid urbanization are helping dengue-carrying mosquitoes survive longer and spread farther than before, gradually transforming what was once considered a seasonal disease into a year-round public health threat. Official data show that dengue cases in India have remained high in recent years, with 289,235 infections and 485 deaths recorded in 2023, the highest annual burden in recent history. The Prediction Researchers hope that efforts to develop preventive tools, such as vaccines, will lead to an affordable solution capable of protecting against all four dengue serotypes. However, experts caution that vaccination alone will not solve the problem. Vector control, surveillance, and public awareness will remain critical to combat the spread of dengue. As Sharma notes, 'It feels like the disease can happen any time now.'

Lead: A Bold Fusion of Realism and HorrorClaire Fuller returns with Hunger and Thirst, a novel that fuses the gritty texture of social realism with the unsettling atmosphere of gothic horror. Set in 1987, the story follows Ursula, a young woman haunted by the deaths of her mother and a later, more sinister companion, while the narrative oscillates between documentary‑style observation and nightmarish spectacle.Fuller Blends Social Realism with Gothic Horror in 'Hunger and Thirst'The novel opens with Ursula’s traumatic childhood—spending two days trapped in a Moroccan bathroom by her mother’s corpse after a dengue fever death. By sixteen, she drifts through seven children’s homes before landing a postroom job at Winchester School of Art, where she meets the volatile Sue and her boyfriend Vince. Their obsession with horror films like The Shining and The Stepford Wives steers the plot toward a derelict house, the Underwood, where a seance and a reenactment of a past murder blur the line between art and atrocity. Fuller’s prose captures the “porousness” of identity, as characters literally and figuratively inhabit each other’s bodies.Publication Details and PricingPublisher: Fig TreeRelease price: £18.99Publication year: 2026Previous award: Fuller’s 2021 Costa‑winning Unsettled GroundSocial Critique of Thatcher‑Era Care System Through HorrorThe novel uses its horror framework to expose the under‑resourced British care system of the 1980s, a period when Thatcher’s government prioritized nuclear families over community support. Ursula’s movement between children’s homes and a “halfway house” populated by addicts and ex‑prisoners illustrates the systemic neglect that left many youths adrift. By juxtaposing this social critique with visceral horror, Fuller argues that the genre can convey truths about societal failure more starkly than conventional realism.Potential Legacy and Reader ReceptionFuller’s “outrageous aesthetic gamble” may set a new benchmark for literary horror that does not sacrifice social urgency. If readers and critics embrace the novel’s dual narrative—documentary‑style observation paired with gothic terror—it could inspire a wave of fiction that treats horror as a vehicle for political commentary. The book’s blend of “intense feeling” and “intimate portrayal” positions it as a contender for future literary awards and a touchstone for authors exploring the intersection of genre and social critique.