ROURKELA: The death of a youth from Rajgangpur town due to suspected dengue has the district administration worried.
The victim, Mukund Soni, in his mid-twenties, died at SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday and his body was cremated at Rajgangpur the next day. Sundargarh Chief District Medical & Public Health Officer (CDM&PHO) Dr SK Mishra said the medical report of SUM Hospital to ascertain if Mukund died of dengue is awaited.
He said Mukund had returned from Hyderabad and on November 9, he complained of fever. He underwent treatment at a private hospital for a few days and was tested positive for dengue. The CDM&PHO said on November 14, the youth was shifted to Ispat General Hospital (IGH), Rourkela with sharp drop in blood platelet count and the next day, his family members rushed him to Bhubaneswar and at that time his platelet count was around 50,000.
Dr Mishra said Mukund died at SUM Hospital on November 18 evening. He said since the kit test is not reliable and dengue test was not conducted at IGH, they are waiting for the medical report of SUM Hospital to ascertain the exact reason of the youth’s death.
The CDM&PHO said an under-treatment dengue positive patient at Sundargarh district headquarters hospital was shifted to VIMSAR, Burla as a precautionary measure with the patient’s blood platelet count falling to around 84,000. He said as of now no other dengue positive patients have been admitted to any of the hospitals in Sundargarh and a few others are getting medical attention at home.
Meanwhile, as many as 121 patients have tested positive for dengue across the district basing on report of 438 blood samples collected from August 27 till date. The maximum number of cases have been reported from Khatkurbahal of Kutra block and Rajgangpur town.
With the Dengue menace now gripping Rajgangpur area, a special preventive drive has been started in slums with sanitary measures and fogging operations to destroy mosquito breeding points. The CDM&PHO said the dengue affected areas of Rajgangpur have high concentration of vehicle tyre business with stagnant water accumulated in spare tyres serving as mosquito breeding points.