Chikungunya toll rises to six in national Capital

Mahendra Singh, the second person from Ghaziabad to have succumbed to chikungunya complications, died yesterday afternoon at Apollo Hospital in south Delhi.

"He was diagnosed positive for chikungunya through RT-PCR test. He died of multi-organ failure triggered by complications from the disease," hospital authorities said.

Chikungunya is taking its toll in the national capital where the number of cases have climbed to over 1,000 this season.

75-year-old Prakash Kalra of Mathura died last evening at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where three other elderly persons succumbed to the disease on Monday.

"He was brought to our hospital in a very aggressive stage of disease, having suffered kidney failure. He was admitted yesterday in the ICU and his chikungunya RT-PCR test had come positive," hospital authorities said.

Four deaths were reported yesterday including that of a 22-year-old girl who died of cardiac arrest triggered by chikungunya complications at Hindu Rao Hospital. Isha from Kabir Nagar had died on September 1, officials said.

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

Dr B S Rana, Chairman, Board of Management of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said in all the four deaths which have taken place, the victims were elderly.

"Uday Shanker (61) of Dwarka was admitted on September 11 and he died on September 12. And, Ashok Chauhan, 62, from Aligarh also died of chikungunya on Monday. He too was admitted in ICU on September 11 and his RT-PCR test came positive," hospital authorities said.

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.

Pandey, who was referred to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital from a Ghaziabad hospital, had died at the hospital at 4 AM after suffering chikungunya with sepsis.

Incidentally, one suspected chikungunya death has also been reported at AIIMS, but hospital authorities are yet to confirm it. According to reports, the "chikungunya death" at the AIIMS took place sometime in September.

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.

Lalit Dar of Department of Microbiology at AIIMS said, "At our laboratories, 1,360 chikungunya blood test samples have tested positive till September 11.