Dengue fever has claimed the life of another child in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district. 4-year-old Anusha Sundar, a native of Tirupattur, developed fever on Friday and was taken to the government hospital where she was given medication and sent home. When the fever did not subside on Sunday, she was rushed to the hospital again. With her temperature remaining high, she was referred to the government hospital in Vellore district on Monday.
On Tuesday morning, Anusha succumbed to dengue fever despite efforts to revive her.
“All efforts to contain and prevent the spread of dengue fever are underway. We are conducting regular campaigns in rural areas to ensure that people are all well-informed about the conditions around the house which can cause breeding of mosquitoes and may result in more cases of dengue,” said Dr R Selvi, dean of Vellore Government Hospital.
Vellore is one of the districts in the state which has come under the spotlight as a result of the number of dengue cases being reported. Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, and Dharmapuri also are reporting a spike in suspected dengue cases.
Speaking to TNM earlier, Dr K Kolandasamy, Director of Public Health, had stated that hospitals were conducting a ‘dengue prevention day’ every week in an effort to spread awareness about the spread of the disease.
Anusha is the sixth child to die due to dengue fever this year and all the casualties so far have been children. In September, an eight-month-old boy from Chennai’s Maduravoyal neighbourhood was the first to succumb to the disease. Following this, an 11-month-old baby in Thiruvallur district died due after contracting dengue fever in October. After this, Vaishnavi, a 9-year-old girl from Karur lost her life due to dengue in the second week of October. In the last week of October, 11-year-old Divya from Vellore district and 5-year-old Kiran Kumar from Tirupathur district too lost their lives to the disease.
There are five strains of the dengue virus, all of which can cause the disease. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the vector for the virus which spreads to people via the bite of the mosquito. High grade fever along with severe joint pains and myalgia (muscle pain) are the most common symptoms of dengue fever.