No mosquito-breeding sites at home of infant who died of dengue

A team of civic officials on Saturday visited Qureshi Nagar in Kurla, where the four-month-old dengue victim Samiya Masiulla Shaikh lived, but failed to identify a single breeding site in the locality.

A team of civic officials on Saturday visited Qureshi Nagar in Kurla, where the four-month-old dengue victim Samiya Masiulla Shaikh lived, but failed to identify a single breeding site in the locality.

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Incidentally, the four-month-old was visiting a relative in Kalina, where she fell ill and was first be taken to Sion Hospital.

Her elder sister, who is about two years old, has also been running a temperature for the past few days. “Samiya’s father took her [the two-year-old] to a doctor and she is on medication. They conducted tests for dengue, but the reports have tested negative,” said a relative of the family.

Although Shaikh did test positive for dengue in the NS1 antigen test, officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have maintained further tests are underway to determine if she actually succumbed to the vector borne disease.

“From what I have learnt from the paediatrician treating the child, her platelet count was fine and she had congenital heart condition. We are waiting for more results to ascertain the cause of death,” said Dr Mangala Gomare, chief of epidemiology, BMC.

Meanwhile, a team from the insecticide department of the civic body and the L ward fumigated the Qureshi Nagar slums and used larvicides in stored water to prevent breeding. Civic officials said fumigation and Aedes breeding prevention measures are underway in Kalina as well. However, they are yet to get the address of Samiya’s relative’s house in the area.

“Once we know the exact location, we can carry out a thorough inspection of the house,” said an official from the insecticide department, BMC.

Samiya, who died on Wednesday, is the fourth reported dengue casualty this week. On Monday, the infant had to be taken to Sion hospital with breathing problems. She was incubated and later admitted to KEM.