Killer dengue rears head, 3 dead already

KOLKATA: After a scorching summer, monsoon has brought relief to the city -but not in certain pockets of Dum Dum, where the menace of mosquitoborne disease is back. Several pockets in the area have started reporting dengue cases, and at least three deaths have been attributed to the deadly fever in the last one-and-a-half months.

The epicentre this time is the Madhugar area, last year's

worst-affected zone

.

Residential units huddled along

Purba Sinthi Road

started reporting cases of dengue from June. The entire area is enveloped in a blanket of fear as cases of dengue keep increasing. While monitoring and pre ventive measures by municipal authorities have improved, the deadly disease is far from being controlled. The first death from dengue -of

Tumpa Guha

, 33, a resident of Purba Sinthi -was reported almost a fortnight ago, and the second death was registered within a week.

Guha was detected with dengue on July 2 and admitted to a private nursing home in Gorabazar. “Her platelet count was nearly a lakh, but it depleted to 28,000 within 24 hours,“ said Nikhil Guha, her husband.“Her condition turned critical, and she was administered platelet. But her condition worsened, and she died on Thursday .“

The day after she was cremated, their five-year-old son was detected with dengue. “His condition has improved now,“ said Nikhil.

Another Purba Sinthi Road resident, who was detected with dengue six days ago, claimed every third house in the vicinity was affected. “The outbreak is quite severe this year and al most every household is affected,“ he said. The resident, who was admitted to

Belle Vue Clinic

after his platelet count went down to 47,000, will be discharged on Monday .

The escalating outbreak has left the densely populated areas most vulnerable. “So far, most of the dengue patients have come from the Purba Sinthi and Madhugar areas. But it is too early to assess how deadly it could finally turn out to be,“ said Pinaki Dey , consultant physician at ILS Hospital, Nagerbazar.

Gopa Pandey , CIC (health) of South Dum Dum municipality , on Sunday claimed the civic body had taken preventive measu res since March. “Teams of trained volunteers started working from March. But it is difficult to eradicate the larvae till people take proactive steps. There could be stored water, which they are not aware of. Many do not allow our volunteers to enter their premises. That makes it impossible to micro-monitor the situation,“ she said.

“This time, we have been more vigilant as the area was very affected last year. Municipal workers started spraying larvaecide even before monsoon. The deadly disease continues to sweep across the wards despite that,“ said Prabir Pal, councillor of Ward 13.