Two more chikungunya deaths in Delhi, 3 fatalities in 24 hrs

New Delhi, Sep 13: Two more chikungunya deaths were today reported at a city hospital, taking to three the number of fatalities due to the vector-borne disease in Delhi where the number of cases have mounted to over 1,000 this season.

65-year-old Ramendra Pandey yesterday died of chikungunya at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, in what could be the first such death in the national capital.

The other two deaths also took place at the same hospital yesterday and both victims were aged above 60 as well, hospital authorities told PTI. "Uday Shanker of Dwarka was admitted on September 11 and he died on September 12.

His RT-PCR test for chikungunya had come positive. He had come to our OPD and then admitted. "Ashok Chauhan, 62, from Aligarh also died of chikungunya yesterday. He too was admitted in ICU on September 11 and his RT-PCR test came positive," a senior official of the hospital said.

Pandey, who was referred from a Ghaziabad hospital, had succumbed to the disease at the hospital at 4 AM after suffering chikungunya with sepsis. Doctors say that chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and old persons.

Incidentally, one suspected chikungunya death has also been reported at the AIIMS, but hospital authorities are yet to confirm it. "We are yet to confirm if the death was due to chikungunya. But till then it is a suspected case," AIIMS spokesperson Amit Gupta said.

According to reports, the "chikungunya death" at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences took place sometime in September and five persons have also "died of dengue" this month.

Chikungunya cases in the national capital have sharply risen to over 1,000 this season, marking a jump of nearly 90 per cent from its count last week.

According to a municipal report released yesterday, at least 1,057 cases of this vector-borne disease have been recorded till September 10, however, hospitals in the city altogether are reporting much higher number.

Authorities at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, Pandey was kept under the care of a senior specialist in the Department of Medicine and a team of doctors from the Internal Medicine-ICU.

Lalit Dar of Department of Microbiology at AIIMS said, "At our laboratories, 1,360 chikungunya blood test samples have tested positive till yesterday. Cases are rising and more and more people are getting affected."

PTI