Dengue continues to spread its tentacles in Delhi with the death toll increasing to 19 on Thursday as a three-year-old and a nine-year-old girl became the latest victims of disease in what is being called as the worst outbreak of the vector-borne disease in the national Capital in the past five years.
Neha Mathur, a resident of Sangam Vihar area in South Delhi died of dengue at Saket City Hospital on Wednesday, doctors said. The death was reported on Thursday. According to her father Vinod Mathur, Neha had been suffering from fever for quite some time and on September 11, he got her tested but the results were normal.
“The test results were normal. But as fever did not subside, on September 15, we took her to Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital. Doctors there did not carry out any tests, just gave her drip and discharged. Around 3 am on Wednesday, she developed high fever and we rushed her to Majeedia Hospital in Hamdard Nagar where again the doctors gave her injection and stabilised her. They did not admit her or did not carry out any tests,” said her father.
“We brought her home but her condition deteriorated and we took her to Saket City hospital around 11 am where she died. She tested positive for dengue at the hospital,” said Mathur.
“The patient had come with internal bleeding and died of dengue shock syndrome,” said Dr Shashishekhar Singh, senior consultant at the hospital’s Paediatrics department.
Another 9-year-old girl, Shabina Fatima died of dengue shock syndrome at RMl Hospital on Wednesday. The death was reported on Thursday, thereby taking the overall toll to 19. As per the municipal corporation’s official data, 2,000 patients have tested positive for the vector-borne disease till date. The death toll as per the official data still stands at 5.