Another dengue death was reported in the city on Monday.
Halima Bibi, 60, passed away at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in northeast Kolkata’s Beleghata on Friday. Officials in the hospital spoke about the death on Monday.
The death certificate mentions that Halima Bibi succumbed to dengue shock syndrome.
A number of people have died of dengue in the city and the rest of West Bengal this year. But neither the state health department nor the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has released the death toll yet.
A doctor at the Beleghata ID Hospital said the woman was admitted late on Thursday.
“The patient was in deep shock when she was brought to the hospital and put on a ventilator. She passed away at 10pm on Friday,” said an official of the hospital.
A statement issued by the KMC on Saturday said 6,052 dengue cases were reported from the Kolkata municipal area between January and November 6. The statement said the dengue count so far this year was already higher than last few years.
An official in the health department said 594 dengue cases were reported on Sunday and 945 on Saturday in the state.
The Telegraph has reported that piles of waste is lying across Kolkata for days before being removed. Uncleared waste and clogged open drains, of which there are many in the city and its adjoining areas, provide ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed.
Also, there are a few canals in the city that have lost their flow because of rampant dumping of waste in the water and have turned into mosquito-breeding sites.
Dengue is caused by a virus that is spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can breed even in a spoonful of stagnant water.
It takes a week since an Aedes mosquito lays eggs for adult mosquitoes to emerge.
“Proper solid waste disposal and cleaning of clogged drains are a must in controlling the mosquito population and in the fight against dengue,” said an expert.
