West Bengal: 14-year-old dies of dengue in Baguiati; docs call for early testing, spotting of danger signs

KOLKATA: A 14-year-old Class VIII student, who lived in Baguiati, died of dengue in a hospital late on Tuesday. The latest dengue victim, Ditsha Gangulee, was detected with the disease six days before she died.
The girl's death certificate mentions "refractory shock with disseminated intravascular coagulation in a case of severe dengue" as the cause of death.
The girl came down with fever on October 11 and a test conducted the next day found her sample positive for dengue. She was admitted to a nursing home near her home with high fever. Her condition deteriorated sharply on Monday night, when she reportedly suffered convulsions. She was shifted to ICU with chest congestion. The nursing home reportedly suggested that Ditsha be shifted to a higher set-up and her father, Debjeet Gangulee, started a search.
AMRI Hospital's Mukundapur unit, which has an extensive PICU (paediatric intensive care unit), offered a bed. The Kolkata Police helped the ambulance reach the hospital on Tuesday night, even before her treatment could start, the girl died. A student at Hariyana Vidya Mandir, Ditsha was a class topper. "Despite the prompt response from AMRI and help from Kolkata Police, my daughter could not survive the battle. She was our only child. The dengue menace is a reality. I hope no other parents lose their children to dengue," said Debjeet, a journalist.
The locality in Baguiati, where Ditsha lived at her maternal grandparent's place, falls under Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The civic body logged the second highest number of dengue cases among urban local bodies last week. With 349 fresh cases, it was second to KMC, which reported 606 cases last week. The locality is in North 24 Parganas, which reported 1,253 fresh cases last week, highest among Bengal districts.
Doctors said early testing and recognising warning symptoms of patients going into shock were critical."It is important to test early, get medical attention on time and detect early danger signs. We have quite a few kids in the hospital but none in the PICU. We managed to stabilise three kids who were in PICU, after they had started developing dengue shock syndrome," said Mihir Sarkar, professor of paediatrics at Medical College and Hospital.