With the onset of monsoon Kolkata sees second dengue case in June

KOLKATA: An 11-year-old girl detected with dengue has been admitted in ICU at Institute of Child Health (ICH) Kolkata. Shumaila Akhtar was shifted to ICH on Friday afternoon from a private hospital after the girl’s platelet went down to 50,000.
“So far the girl is stable but we had admitted her in the ICU keeping in mind the platelet count. The next two days could be critical in the context of the phase of the infection where patients could go into heamhorragic shock,” said Dr Prabhas Prasun Giri, (PICU) paediatric intensive care in-charge in ICU.
The girl from 25 Sarang Lane Taltala was initially admitted in GD Diabetics Hospital on Lenin Sarani. Her blood samples tested positive to dengue (both IgG nd IgM). Doctors at the previous hospital advised the girl’s parents to shift her to a hospital with PICU facilities after her platelet dropped to 50,000 on Friday morning. Doctors at ICH said that child does not need platelet transfusion immediately.
With the onset of monsoon, reports of dengue have started trickling in. This is the second known case of dengue in the city this June. Last week a post graduate medical student of Medical College and Hospital Calcutta was detected with dengue. In that case also the doctor had to be admitted in hospital after her platelet started dropping.
Keeping in mind the outbreak last year, the state health department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had started working on vector control exercises right from January.