Dengue kills Class V kid in Kolkata, toll 3

KOLKATA: An 11-year-old student of South Point School died of dengue at a private hospital off EM Bypass on Tuesday morning, taking the death toll in the city to three.


Aarush Dutta, the victim, had been suffering from fever since last Friday and had been admitted to a north Kolkata nursing home. He was shifted to Medica after Aarush’s condition deteriorated sharply late on Monday evening. But he could not be revived.

The death certificate issued by the hospital mentioned ‘severe

dengue fever

with haemorrhage’ as the cause of death. Aarush’s father Abhishek Dutta alleged the nursing home failed to control his dengue symptoms.

“My son’s platelet count was a healthy 1,46,000 till Saturday. His other parameters, too, were normal. Suddenly, on Monday evening, the nursing home authorities asked me to shift Aarush saying his condition has deteriorated and he couldn’t be treated there. I will lodge a complaint against the nursing home at the health commission,” said Dutta. A resident of Peary Mohan Sur Lane in north Kolkata, Aarush was a student of Class-V.

According to Medica, Aarush was admitted in a very critical state. At the time of his admission, he had internal haemorrhage and his blood pressure was very low. “He was immediately admitted to the ICU but his condition didn’t improve,” said a hospital source.

A test done at a local laboratory had revealed that Aarush had dengue. It was confirmed by another test done at the nursing home. Aarush’s father said he was surprised since dengue has not been rampant in the neighbourhood.

“In fact, we have not heard of a single dengue case in our area this year. But he might have got the virus from his school,” said Abhishek Dutta.

All the three dengue deaths in Kolkata have occurred within the last 10 days.

The KMC health department has decided to conduct extensive fogging in the area to ward off the threat of dengue in the neighbourhood. This apart, a special vector control squad from the civic body will conduct a special drive in the dengue-prone areas across the city.

According to a KMC health department official, the KMC vector control team was taken aback by the sudden dengue death in the locality which was not in the radar of the civic body as dengue-prone.