Kids form over 70 pc of dengue, fever cases at govt hospitals

The three deaths due to dengue that was reported in the city this month were also children. Officials said this was due to the low immunity among children, which increases risk of fevers including dengue.

According to doctors at government hospitals, there is a large number of paediatric cases that have come to the hospitals with fever. As the overall number of dengue and suspicious fever patients continue to spike, Health Department officials said that there are about 50 confirmed dengue cases in the city. Of these, more than 70 per cent are children.

The numbers at the outpatient section of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) have doubled to about 400 every day, most of them suffering from fever. Based on the instructions of Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar, all the severe fever cases are being treated as inpatient cases, increasing the number of such patients to about 150. More than 15 have been tested positive, said hospital authorities.

“The last two cases of dengue deaths at the hospital were late referral cases, in which the children were brought to the hospital in a critical state. One child was even bleeding as it was already suffering from haemorrhagic fever. Children are born with low immunity and are also critical to handle. We are approached when the child needs tertiary care,” said former director of ICH, Dr K Jeyachandran.

It is not just the ICH, even Kilpauk Medical College Hospital and Stanley Medical College Hospital are also receiving large number of fever cases. There are about 3-4 cases of dengue among adults, while the number of paediatric cases being treated at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital is about 10. “Every day, there are about 50 cases of children with fever. It is difficult to identify the symptoms in children, which is why doctors are consulted late. However, late referral can lead to complications,” said Dr P Vasanthamani, dean, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital.