A two-year-old girl from Woraiyur who died on Thursday night after treatment in a private hospital became the city’s first suspected dengue victim this season.
While health officials have set afoot surveillance and preventive measures, they are yet to attribute the cause of death to dengue.
Toddler Lakshika was admitted with symptoms of typhoid in a multispecialty hospital a couple of days back.
Hospital sources told The Hindu that the child was referred to the hospital in a critical condition after treatment in various private centres.
She was diagnosed with enteric fever and severe infection or sepsis, after which profuse bleeding had set in. As the condition did not improve , the child was taken off the ventilator and died on Thursday night.
Health officials are reluctant to record the death as dengue case, as only a preliminary card test showed positive.
Many private hospitals do not carry out the ELISA test and the card test is not acceptable as conclusive proof, said Rajeshwari, city health officer (in-charge).
Surveillance has been carried out for a population close to 10,000 in Woraiyur, said Mohan, deputy director, public health.
No symptoms of dengue have been reported, except for a couple of cases of seasonal fever.
Various measures including fogging, fumigation, and destruction of mosquito larvae have been take up by the health department.
The first official confirmation of dengue this season was in July at the Mahatma Gandhi Government Hospital attached to the K.A.P.Viswanatham medical college, but private hospitals and laboratories have recorded dengue positive patients even earlier.
Most of the cases were from suburbs of the district and neighbouring districts of Pattukottai, Pudukottai, and Aranthangi.
Dengue is caused by Aedes Aegypti mosquito that breeds in freshwater.
Flower pots, shaving mugs, coconut husks, tyres, and open water containers are potential breeding places. Putting a lid on all containers can be taken as precautionary step.
