No Conclusive Evidence Of Dengue

District health authorities said on Monday that there was no conclusive evidence yet that a seven-year-old girl in Mettupalayam had died of dengue. It could be a case of dengue or viral fever or drug poisoning, Deputy Director of Health Services (Tirupur) V. Vijayalakshmi told. The official was overseeing fever surveillance and fogging at Thanneer Thadam, where the girl, A. Preethi, had lived. More than 20 village health nurses and health workers were involved in the fogging and educating people on measures to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.

Dr. Vijayalakshmi said Preethi died at a private hospital in the city on Sunday after she was treated at hospitals at the Alangombu area in Mettupalayam sub-division of the district.“The aedes aegypti mosquito density and larvae indices are low in the locality (Thanneer Thadam). This gives rise to doubts whether the girl had been affected by dengue,” she said. (Aedes aegypti carries the dengue-causing alpha virus. It breeds in fresh water stagnating in discarded coconut shells, tyres or another other container.) Dr. Vijayalakshmi said the cause of death might have been dengue. But, the private hospital where she died had not done two specific tests needed to confirm it. That had caused the doubts now.

The hospital report said the girl died of cardio-respiratory failure, following dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome, massive pulmonary haemorrhage and multiple organ dysfunction.This could have been even a case of viral fever turning fatal, the official said. Inquiries revealed that the child had been under treatment for fever and a haemorrhagic manifestation in the arm. The child developed breathlessness early on Sunday and was rushed to the private hospital in the city.

“We are also trying to find out whether an overdose of paracetamol owing to prolonged treatment had caused drug poisoning and organ (liver) damage,” the health official said. “At present, we are not able to say anything conclusively. We have taken blood serum samples for test from fever cases in the locality. The results will help us confirm or rule out the prevalence of dengue,” Dr. Vijayalakshmi said.

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