A 19-year-old woman from Malad and a 49-year-old man from Andheri died due to leptospirosis, taking the death toll due to the disease to six this year. While the woman succumbed on July 22 and the man on August 4, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) confirmed their deaths on Wednesday.
According to civic officials, the woman from Malad had sought treatment from two local private doctors and a private hospital for symptoms like high-grade fever and vomiting. She was eventually admitted to another hospital on July 21 with severe breathlessness and reduced platelet count, and died a day later.
In the second case, the man from Andheri had developed fever, chills, and body ache, for which he sought treatment from two local doctors and then got admitted to a civic-run hospital’s intensive care unit. His condition, however, worsened and his platelet count dipped to 16,000. He eventually went into multiple organ failure. “The patient worked in the cargo section at the airport godown and had a history of exposure to stagnant water,” said a civic official.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection that is transmitted to humans through rat and cattle urine and excreta. It is commonly caused when one wades through contaminated water and the bacteria is transmitted through unhealed wounds in the skin, abrasions and cuts, especially on the foot. The BMC has recorded 21 cases of the disease this month.
The corporation also confirmed the death of a 68-year-old woman from Andheri due to H1N1. The patient, who died on August 1, had co-morbid conditions like diabetes and hypertension, as well as kidney disease. She was first admitted to a hospital where she was put on the treatment for H1N1, but her condition worsened and she was shifted to another hospital, where she was admitted to the intensive care unit. She eventually succumbed to multiple organ failure.
This is the monsoon season’s second H1N1 death. H1N1 is an airborne respiratory disease caused by the type-A influenza virus. Medical experts say it mostly becomes fatal in patients who have co-morbid conditions or who get delayed treatment.
So far this month, civic officials have also recorded 104 confirmed and 1,536 suspected cases of dengue. Medical experts say early diagnosis and treatment is key to recovery. People should not self-medicate and should seek a doctor’s opinion as soon as they suffer from any of the symptoms.
