A 20-year-old woman from Dum Dum’s Motijheel who had tested positive for dengue and was admitted to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital died early on Sunday.
The death certificate of Samapti Malick mentioned “septic shock syndrome in case of dengue fever” as the immediate cause of death.
Malick lived with her family in a tenement in an area in Motijheel that has open drains run through it.
Chindu Malick, Samapti’s mother, said her daughter had been running a temperature for the past several days.
“She had complained of chest pain five days ago. We took her to the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where doctors advised us to get her tested for dengue. They also gave her a medicine by injection to ease her chest pain, which they said was caused by formation of gas,” Chindu said.
The blood test for dengue returned positive.
“We took her to the hospital again on Saturday night. She was running a high temperature and was barely conscious. She died early on Sunday,” Chindu said.
Samapti’s death was the seventh recorded dengue death in the area under South Dum Dum Municipality.
The municipal area has recorded around 1,000 dengue cases since January, said a civic body official.
Residents of Motijheel said many in the neighbourhood had fever and several tested positive for dengue, a disease that is caused by virus spread by Aedes mosquitoes.
Minu Sonar, who lives close to the Malicks, said the locality buzzes with mosquitoes and the residents keep their windows closed all through the day and night to keep the sting army at bay.
Mosquitoes breed in open drains and garbage piles that dot the neighbourhood, he said.
“Vector-control teams of the municipality are rarely seen here. Apart from keeping our doors and windows shut at all times, we try to stay within mosquito nets as much as we can,” Sonar said.
Sanjay Das, chairman-in-council member, health, South Dum Dum Municipality, said: “Dengue is under control. We are spraying larvicide and running government camps where dengue tests are performed for free. The camps are held in all 35 wards in alternate weeks.”
Apart from the camps, Das said, dengue tests are done at all urban primary healthcare centres and the three government-run hospitals in Dum Dum.
“Teams are also conducting door-to-door visits regularly,” he said.
