Chickenpox: Hike in cases of admission at Beliaghata ID Hosp

KOLKATA: The state Health department is seriously concerned about the hike in the admission of patients affected with chickenpox at the Beliaghata ID Hospital.

Sources said that around 26 people have died of the infection over the last three months at the said hospital.

The latest victim was a 67- year-old man, who had been shifted to this hospital early this week from the School of Tropical Medicine.

Experts said before the pandemic, such a breakout was rare with so many people being affected within a short span of time.

The Infectious Diseases & Beleghata General Hospital (ID&BG) usually witnessed less than 10 deaths even in peak chickenpox season, between November and February, in the past few years.

In most patients, chickenpox causes itchy skin rashes and painful blisters and fever. Chickenpox, a highly contagious disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, is rarely fatal, with approximately one death per 1,00,000 cases reported among children aged 1-14; six per 1,00,000 cases reported in the age group of 15 to 19 years.