A nine-month-old baby, who had tested positive for the adenovirus and was suffering from pneumonia, died at a city hospital late on Saturday.
A one-year-old baby, also suffering from pneumonia, passed away at another city hospital on Sunday.
Doctors said hundreds, including adults, were still falling prey to viral infections, whose most common symptoms are fever and cough. The surge started weeks ago.
The nine-month-old girl was being treated at the Dr BC Roy Institute of Paediatric Sciences.
A senior official of the hospital said she could not be shifted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) even after her condition deteriorated as all beds in the unit were occupied.
The official said all 20 PICU beds have been occupied for several days now, forcing the Kankurgachhi hospital to turn down referrals of critically ill children from other hospitals.
The girl was admitted to the BC Roy hospital on February 19 for the second time in a month.
“She had been cured and sent home the first time she was treated here. But she again fell ill and was admitted to the hospital on February 19. It was during the second admission that a viral panel test confirmed she had been infected by the adenovirus,” said the official of the hospital.
“We could not shift him to PICU as there was no vacant bed.”
Sources said critically ill children from across the state are referred to Dr BC Roy Institute of Paediatric Sciences throughout the year.
A one-year-old child passed away at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. “The child was suffering from viral pneumonia. He was not subjected to any test that could identify the virus that caused the infection. The patient was brought here in a critical condition,” said an official of the hospital.
Health department officials said viral infections with symptoms such as fever, headache, body ache and cough were common during change of seasons, but this year a significantly higher number of people have been catching the infections.
The number of children below 2 years being admitted to hospitals is higher compared with the same period previous years, an official said.
Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an infectious disease specialist, said an adenovirus infection remains restricted to the upper respiratory tract in most people.
“But if the infection travels to the lower respiratory tract, it can affect the lungs. That may cause viral pneumonia,” said Bhattacharya.
The website of the World Health Organisation says pneumonia “is the single largest infectious cause of death in children worldwide”.
Officials of three other hospitals in Kolkata told The Telegraph that all their paediatric intensive care unit beds were occupied on Sunday.
All six PICU beds at the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre and all 14 intensive care beds at the Institute of Child Health were occupied. None of the 10 PICU beds at AMRI Hospitals Mukundapur was vacant.
Officials of the hospitals said a significant number of children admitted were suffering from fever and cough.
“Since January, hardly any PICU bed has been vacant,” said an official at the Bhagirathi Neotia Woman and Child Care Centre.
Many doctors said there was no reason for panic yet.
An advisory issued by the state health department a few days ago listed some warning signs.
They include fever for three days or more, fast breathing, oxygen saturation of 92 per cent or less, reduction in oral food intake and drop in urination to less than five times a day.
