Second death by dengue in Delhi, victim kin of AAP MLA

New Delhi, Aug 14: A 38-year-old woman, relative of an AAP MLA in southeast Delhi, has become the second person to die of dengue in the national capital. Nazish, sister-in-law of Okhla MLA Amanatulllah Khan, died at Apollo hospital yesterday.

"On Thursday her platelet count was 25,000 but when we checked her into Apollo at about 9 PM it had fallen to 11,000," Khan said.

"She had been suffering from high fever from last few days and we had taken her to a doctor in our area and from there she was referred to Apollo as her condition worsened," he said. Khan said Nazish was diagnosed with dengue on Thursday.

A doctor at the hospital said, "She was brought in condition of high fever and her blood platelet count was diagnosed below 11,000". Platelets help the blood clot and stop bleeding.

The normal range is between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microlitre of blood and very low levels (below 30,000) may lead to internal bleeding and shock resulting in death from multi-organ failure. The Okhla MLA said that his eleven-year-old daughter is also down with the vector borne disease.

A 17-year-old girl from Jaffrabad in northeast Delhi had died in July becoming the first person to die of dengue in the city, even though the municipal corporation has not acknowledged any death this season.

According to municipal reports, at least 171 cases of dengue have been reported this season in Delhi with 52 of these being recorded in the first week of August.

PTI