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11-month-old boy succumbs to dengue fever in TN, nearly 3000 cases confirmed in state

An 11-month-old boy succumbed to dengue fever in Chennai on Friday. The boy’s family resides in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district, where he had first been taken to a local Primary Health Centre (PHC). From there, he was brought to Sri Ramachandra Hospital in Porur, Chennai and was being administered further treatment where he succumbed on Friday evening.

This is the second dengue death to be reported so far in the state. Nearly 3,000 people have tested positive for dengue virus across the state.

“We are noticing that several people are not taking their symptoms seriously and are delaying treatment. As a result, many people who are coming with the fever now are coming during the later stages and this requires more aggressive treatment,” Dr K Kolandasamy, Director of Public Health (DPH) told TNM.

He also added that awareness measures and campaigns have been increased to ensure that people are taking the necessary precautions.

“We are using malathion to spray outdoors and pyrethrin for indoor mosquito population control,” he said, of the fumigation measures being taken by the state health department to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.

Earlier, state health minister C Vijayabhaskar had announced special fever clinics had been set up in government hospitals in the state in an effort to combat the influx of the disease.

Dengue fever is caused by one of five strains of the dengue virus which is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. The most common symptoms of dengue are high-grade fever accompanied by joint pains as well as myalgia (muscle pain). There is no cure, so treatment is largely based on the supportive measures given to control the symptoms an individual expresses. There is no vaccine to protect against the virus, though research efforts to develop one are still underway.

Source: The News Minute