Calcutta: Deaths after fever stoke vector fears

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Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/108111...y_10088845.jsp

Deaths after fever stoke vector fears

Vector-borne diseases are suspected to have claimed three more lives in the city since Saturday evening. Another malaria case has also been detected in Salt Lake.

Sandhya Patra, 42, and Sukanta Das, 50, both residents of Behala, died of an unknown fever. The death certificate of 52-year-old Ratan Sarkar, the Kasba block president of Trinamul Congress, mentioned renal failure as the cause. His family members and Trinamul supporters, however, claimed he died of dengue.

The number of deaths from vector-borne diseases this season has crossed 25. Health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra said on Saturday the situation could worsen as winter might arrive late.

Sandhya Patra, who lived on SN Roy Road in Behala, had fever with body ache since last Tuesday. She was admitted to Vidyasagar State General Hospital on Friday and transferred to the CMRI the same evening. She had high fever and was suffering from severe respiratory distress. Sandhya died around 5am on Sunday.

?Her blood test was conducted at Vidyasagar Hospital. She died before the results were available but a doctor had said that it was a case of malaria,? said Shyamal Patra, her father-in-law.

Ratan Sarkar, a resident of Bediadanga, was suffering from fever since Thursday. He was admitted to SSKM Hospital on Friday with very high fever after he tested negative for malaria at a CMC clinic. He died on Sunday morning.

?The doctors at the clinic gave him malaria medicines even before the test results were available,? said Sarkar?s relative Mihir Ghosh.

On Saturday evening, trader Sukanta Das, a resident of Chanditala Branch Road, died after suffering from fever since Friday morning.

He was admitted to Bangur Hospital on Friday evening and put on drip. Doctors suspected he had malaria. Das died around 5.25pm on Saturday. His death certificate stated acute coronary syndrome with septicaemia.

Ratna Mandal, a 34-year-old homemaker at Nabapally in Salt Lake, was diagnosed with malaria on Sunday.
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Re: Calcutta: Deaths after fever stoke vector fears

Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0811141421.htm

33 die of mosquito-borne diseases, fever in West Bengal

Kolkata (IANS): Mosquito-borne diseases and a type of fever whose cause has not been identified have claimed at least 33 lives in West Bengal since September, officials said Friday.

"At least 25 people have died in Kolkata alone. Eight others have died in other parts of the state," said Sanchita Bakshi, state director of health services.

In Kolkata, malaria claimed 10 lives, while six people died of dengue, and one each of Japanese encephalitis, meningo encephalitis and viral encephalitis. Six people died of a fever whose cause has not yet been identified.

"Eight died of chikungunya, dengue and Japanese encephalites in other parts of the state during this period," said Bakshi.

She added that at least 300 people have been affected by mosquito-borne diseases across the state.

Javed Khan, a leader of the main opposition Trinamool Congress, alleged that the state government had not taken any initiative to contain the outbreak. He also accused the government of showing a low number of victims.

"They have failed to combat the diseases. Now they are trying to contain the damage to their image by giving out low figures of victims," Khan said.

Debdwaipayan Chatterjee, chief municipal officer (health) of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), denied the charges and said the civic body was taking all necessary steps to control the disease.

"Our officers are regularly spraying bleaching powder and anti-mosquito oil across the city. We are continuously carrying out awareness campaigns to sensitise the people about the symptoms of these diseases," he said.

"Also, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has started sending us weekly updates on the outbreak and victims so that we can work accordingly," Chatterjee added.

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Re: Calcutta: Deaths after fever stoke vector fears

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.new...ss=1&id=231065

KMC to prepare ward-wise map to check Malaria spurt

Abhishek Law
KOLKATA, Nov. 15: After being caught unawares by the sudden spurt in malaria and other vector borne diseases in the city, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has finally decided to prepare a ward-wise vulnerability map. The map will contain details about the wards, which are prone to be affected by vector borne diseases, especially malaria.
Civic officials said that in a meeting of the civic health department it was decided that a detailed ward wise vulnerability map will be prepared to ensure that wards prone to malaria are identified. After this there will be emphasis on carrying out anti-larval activities in these wards.
The map will have details about the ward, its size, population density, previous incidents of malaria and areas in the ward that are prone to incidents of vector borne diseases. Moreover, inputs from the executive health officer of the ward and the respective boroughs will also be incorporated in the map. Based on the size and details of each ward, health workers will then be assigned to carry out work here. "The number of workers assigned to each ward will be based on the size and vulnerability of the ward," a civic doctor said.
The move is expected to bring in some order to the haphazard manner in which health workers are presently assigned to carry out anti-larval activities in various wards of KMC.
On earlier occasions too the civic body had planned to prepare a Geographical Information System (GIS) enabled entomological map but failed to do so. The state health department has also urged the civic body to prepare and present a detailed entomological map for facilitating anti-larval activities.
Civic officials said that the decision was prompted by a sudden increase in malarial cases. The state health minister, Dr Surya Kanta Mishra's predicted that there will be an increase in vector borne diseases in the coming year, civic officials reported. This prediction is another reason behind the decision to make ward maps.
A total of 28 people have succumbed to vector borne diseases in the city this season. While there were no deaths recorded due to malaria last year. There were 12 deaths recorded this year while the number of people afflicted this year stands at 45,066 of which 6,042 are plasmodium falciparum cases.