Dengue toll rises to 17 in West Bengal

Dengue deaths in West Bengal since January rose to 17 with medical reports today confirming the recent death of two women due to the vector-borne disease, a senior government official said.

The death of a 32-year-old woman from Dum Dum and another woman in her mid-40s from Bongaon, both in North 24-Pargana district, was due to dengue, West Bengal Director of Health Services Biswaranjan Satpathy said.

So far, 17 people have died of dengue in the state, mostly from the North 24-Parganas and Hooghly districts.

"The woman from Bongaon, who was referred to the R G Kar Hospital for treatment, died a couple of days ago while another woman passed away yesterday. Medical Reports of both of them confirmed that they died of dengue," Satpathy said.

According to the medical officer, around 77 new cases of dengue infection were reported in the last 24 hours thus taking the number of dengue cases in the state to 2870.

Most cases were reported from Hooghly district's Serampore and North 24-Parganas district, while there were some cases in Malda, Nadia, Darjeeling, and South 24-Parganas districts, he added.