A 28-year-old homemaker died of dengue-induced shock at MR Bangur hospital in Tollygunge on Tuesday.
Priya Roy had been admitted to the hospital the day before.
This was the fourth known death of a dengue patient in the city since Friday.
Doctors said Roy, from Khanpur in Naktala, was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of dengue-shock syndrome early on Monday. She was shifted to the critical care unit later in the day.
Doctors suggested she had been admitted late.
Over 70 dengue patients were under treatment at MR Bangur hospital on Tuesday.
Several doctors said there was a tendency among patients to ignore fever and avoid a blood test.
“Some do not consult a doctor even after testing positive for dengue. Even if a doctor advises admission, a patient goes around checking with acquaintances whether hospital admission is needed.... All this leads to loss of crucial time,” said Kausik Chaudhuri of Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital.
The hospital had over 50 dengue patients admitted on Tuesday, three of them in the critical care unit.
Roy’s death comes within two days of the death of a 12-year-old girl from Jadavpur at MR Bangur hospital.
On Saturday, when Dona Das was brought to the hospital’s Emergency ward, she was gasping for breath. Doctors said the child, a resident of Prince Golam Mohammad Shah Road in Jadavpur, died of acute viral myocarditis caused by dengue.
On Friday, a 78-year-old resident of Regent Estate in Tollygunge died at the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS). Kalpana Dutta had tested positive for dengue on September 16.
A 66-year-old man suffering from dengue passed away the same day. An official at the hospital said the man, a resident of Salt Lake, had been suffering from co-morbidities.
“The tendency to try over-the-counter drugs in the initial days instead of visiting a doctor can be dangerous. Dengue can cause several complexities and one should not self-diagnose,” said Himadri Chakrabarty, a senior doctor at a government hospital in North 24-Parganas.
The state government has issued a directive to district magistrates and police superintendents to work closely with municipal councillors in areas adjoining Calcutta to stop breeding of mosquitoes.