A five-year old girl from Serampore in Hooghly district of south Bengal died from dengue on Tuesday morning at the National Medical College. Sunidhi Sharma had fever for the past two days before being admitted to the hospital. On Sunday night, a three-year old boy, Aharshi Dhar, from Lake Town, died at the Institute of Child Health in Park Circus. Aharshi was admitted with fever, rashes and low platelet count.
There have been at least three more deaths earlier this month from dengue, including a 27-year-old lady constable who died after giving birth. Over 40,000 people have been affected by dengue in West Bengal since January this year. During this period, 23 persons have died.
Residents of the ward where Sunidhi lived blamed the local municipality for not taking sufficient measures to prevent the spread of dengue in the area. The condition is the same in all the wards of Hooghly’s Rishra and Serampore, the residents said. Many dengue cases have been detected from these areas.
The situation is much the same in Lake Town. Residents blamed the municipality saying that it does not take enough measures to check the spread of dengue. They said a swimming pool in the area with stagnant and dirty water was the probable source of spread of infection in the area. The pool remained unused from October to April thus making it a convenient breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Not just in the outskirts, the main Kolkata Municipal Corporation area has also seen a huge increase in the dengue affected people this year.
