At least four children, who had either tested positive for the adenovirus infection or were suffering from acute respiratory disease caused by viral infections, died in Kolkata on Thursday.
Three of the children died at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences in Kankurgachhi and the fourth at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, said officials in the health department.
The oldest among them, Disha Sardar, was just over three years old. The youngest, Kashmira Khatun, was three months old. Both died at Dr BC Roy Institute, officials of the hospital said.
Disha’s father Rony said the child was admitted to the hospital on Monday with fever and cough. Her condition kept deteriorating over the next two days and she was shifted to the ICU. The child died while on intensive care.
“The child was admitted to our hospital in a critical condition. The infection had spread from the upper respiratory tract downwards and she was immuno-compromised,” said a doctor at Dr BC Roy Institute.
Disha’s family lives in a locality near the airport.
Kashmira’s father said the child was admitted to Dr BC Roy Institute on Thursday last week with fever and cough. She was later put on a ventilator.
The family lives in Ghatakpur in Bhangar.
The two deaths were declared within an hour on Thursday afternoon. A battery of policemen stood guard and the hospital’s collapsible gate was closed to ensure the grieving relatives of the children did not barge in, officials said.
A third child, almost of the same age as Kashmira and a resident of Barasat, died at Dr BC Roy Institute early on Thursday. The child was admitted to the hospital on Saturday with fever and cough and died of pneumonia, doctors said.
The mother of 3-month-old Kashmira Khatun, who died at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences on Thursday. Sanat Kr Sinha
At the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, a one-year-two-month-old girl named Shreya Pal, a resident of Chinsurah in Hooghly district, died around 2.10am. She had been running a high temperature and suffering from breathing distress when she was referred to the city hospital on February 21.
Doctors at the hospital said the child had a congenital heart disorder and tested positive for adenovirus. Later, she developed pneumonia. Over the last few days, her organs were malfunctioning.
Family members queue up with ailing children at the Dr BC Roy Institute on Thursday. Sanat Kr Sinha
The two hospitals — Calcutta Medical College and Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences — have witnessed deaths of several children suffering from viral infections since late on Saturday.
Doctors at the two facilities said some of the patients were being brought in in a critical state and they required intensive intervention immediately.
“The problem with small children is that they can’t cough out when pneumonia sets in and stop taking food. The congestion in the lungs keeps growing,” said Subhasish Ghosh, a respiratory medicine specialist.