A five-year-old girl in Tirupattur town died of dengue fever, prompting the district administration to intensify preventive measures including fogging, clearing stagnated water in abandoned spots in the affected area on Thursday.
Health officials said that the victim, identified as M. Abinidhi, was a Class one student in a private school at Shivarajpettai within Tirupattur municipality limits. She was admitted to a private hospital in Krishnagiri on September 23 due to high fever by her father K. Manikandan. She was treated and discharged from the hospital. The family returned to Tirupattur town a few days ago.
However, Abinidhi suffered from vomiting and tiredness and was admitted at the Government Medical College Hospital in Tirupattur on September 26. As her health deteriorated, she was referred to the Government Medical College Hospital in Dharmapuri where she died on the night of September 27.
After the post-mortem, the body of the girl was handed over to her parents. “We have disinfected the entire affected area [Shivarajpettai], following the report of admission of the girl at Krishnagiri hospital. All GHs in the district has at least 20 beds each to attend dengue cases,” T.R. Senthil, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Tirupatur, told The Hindu.
The girl’s death comes less than a month after a 59-year-old man, who was running a grocery shop in Vaniyambadi town, died at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) in Chennai due to multiple health complications, including infection of H1N1 influenza on September 2.
As a preventive measure, officials of the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Tirupattur have been undertaking a series of preventive steps including spray of disinfectants in hot spots areas of the district.
Special medical camps at the Government General Hospital, two primary health care centres and health wellness centres in Vaniyambadi town will also be held in the coming days. Samples from these camps will be collected and tested at laboratories for any symptoms of the infection. Cough, fever, vomiting, headache and body pain are common symptoms of the infection. Residents were also asked to get discharged from the hospital only after getting completely cured.
