Hyderabad/ Mancherial: Four members of a family who used to live in the Sri Sri Nagar Colony of Mancherial have reportedly died because of dengue over the last 15 days while undergoing treatment at hospitals locally and in Hyderabad.
The issue came to light when 29-year-old Gudimalla Sona died on Tuesday, after delivering a boy, was diagnosed with dengue. Her condition worsened and she died on October 29, after giving birth to a baby boy at the Yashoda Hospital in Hyderabad.
According to medical experts, she was brought to hospital in a critical condition and as her immunity was compromised due to pregnancy. Her survival, post giving birth to a child, was a challenge. She succum-bed but her male child is safe and untouched by dengue disease.
Relatives informed that prior to Sona’s death, her husband, daughter and grandfather had also died of dengue. Survi-ving members of the family were inconsolable by the series of tragic blows to them, in which four members died one after the other.
According to sources, her 30-year-old husband, Gudimalla Raju Gattu, a teacher, was the first to be diagnosed with dengue fever.
Mr Gattu took treatment locally but was later shifted to a private hospital in Karimnagar once his condition deteriorated. He died while undergoing treatment on October 16. Four days later, Eda Lingaiah, aged 70 years, who was Gudimalla Raju’s grandfather, died from dengue.
Even as the family was recovering from the shock of the twin losses, they suffered another huge blow when 5-year-old Sri Varshini, daughter of Gattu and Sona, died of dengue.
To have all family members suffer from the disease means that their immunity was severely compromised or the virus was present in the locality in large numbers.
A senior doctor said, “To have all members suffer from dengue means that there must have been a breeding ground for mosquitoes around where they lived. Even the numbers of the disease carrying mosquitoes must have been high. The government must check the reasons soon, because it is dangerous trend for an entire family to be affected and killed.”
Local people complaint that poor sanitation was a norm in Mancherial. They point out that one can see garbage piled up and overflowing drainages in most parts of the town, which has led to several breeding grounds for mosquitoes thriving, causing dengue and other viral fevers.
“We are all suffering. But the government does not care whether we live or die,” said a person from Mancherial.
