M A I N   N E W S

32 kids die of bronchopneumonia

Kolkata, June 6
The mystery fever which has claimed 32 children’s lives in Murshidabad district of West Bengal in the past one week, was today diagnosed by a team of medical experts as bronchopneumonia.

District Acting CMOH, Dr Pinaki Ghosh, said the team of experts visiting the remote villages in Lalgola block, which has been affected by the disease, had reported that the disease had been identified on symptomatic observations.

“The team of epidemiologists, which has been collecting blood and saliva samples at the villages, has identified the disease as bronchopneumonia characterised by high fever, cough and cold,” Dr Ghosh said.

On why the disease had struck only children, he said children were generally more susceptible to any disease than adults.

High temperatures in the district could have aggravated matters, he said.

The epidemiologists’ team and another expert team from the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED) were still verifying the reason and magnitude of the disease in the gram panchayat areas of Kadamtala, Kochidanga, Ramchandrapur, Nasibpur, Kurgachi and Notundiar under Lalgola block.

Dr Ghosh said the teams would submit their final report tomorrow. PTI, UNI