A nine-year-old girl from Siruvakkam village in Tiruvallur district died at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), Egmore, on Saturday. This is the seventh death of a child from the district in the last three weeks.
D. Saminathan, director of ICH said the girl, A. Hemalatha, was brought to the hospital in a serious condition on Friday afternoon. “She came in with convulsions. She had had fever for around 10 days. She was immediately put on a ventilator and was in intensive care, but she died around 1.30 a.m. on Saturday. Her platelet count was normal and tests for Hepatitis A, B, C and dengue were negative. This was a case of septicaemia with meningitis, possibly a bacterial infection. The child was also malnourished,” he said.
Dr. Saminathan said Hemalatha had been referred to the hospital from the Minjur primary health centre.
Director of public health K. Kolandaisamy said that while the general sanitation in Siruvakkam was not bad, aedes aegypti mosquito was breeding in the locality which needed to be tackled.
Preventive measures“We are focussing on the root cause of the fevers — vectors and water, which are the two vehicles of transmission of infections. In Siruvakkam, we have already carried out fogging. Unused containers filling with water and acting as breeding grounds are a huge challenge, especially after the recent rain. We are continuing to remove small containers and are applying temephos to large containers with water,” he said.
Also, chlorination of water sources and repairs of pipelines were going on, he said. “We are also looking into food and environmental hygiene,” he added.
Tiruvallur district has seen a series of fever-related deaths in the last few weeks, beginning with four deaths of boys in two adjoining villages, Kaverirajapuram and Adi Andhrawada, between August 13 and 21. Officials said these deaths were due to mixed infections including dengue and leptospirosis. The fifth death was of a 10-year-old girl from Keerapakkam on August 26 which was attributed to Hepatitis A, and the seventh was of a 15-year-old from Pothatturpettai last week, which officials said was due to viral hemorrhagic fever. Dozens of others had been admitted to various hospitals in the district and in Chennai.
Control room set upThe district administration had started a mass cleaning drive last week and has also set up a dengue control room. Residents can call in at 044-27665348 or 7548846801 and can also take photographs of places that need cleaning and send them via Whatsapp to 7548846803.
The 104 health helpline has also made special arrangements ahead of the monsoon to provide information on fevers via nurses and doctors.
