Bengal Sees Another Adenovirus Death After 13-Year-Old Passes Away In Kolkata Hospital

The 13-year-old girl, a resident of Kharagpur, died due to health complications that developed after beingshe was infected with adenovirus.

Adenovirus has claimed another life in West Bengal after a 13-year-old girl died at a Kolkata hospital, PTI quoted an official as saying on Thursday. The girl, Urjaswati Roy Chowdhury, a resident of Kharagpur, died due to health complications that developed after being infected with adenovirus.

Chowdhury died on Wednesday after developing respiratory complications. She tested positive for the infection earlier this week.

"The girl was admitted to the hospital on February 15 with fever and respiratory issues. She was put on ventilation and shifted to the ICU. Clinical tests diagnosed that she was infected with Adenovirus. On Wednesday morning the girl breathed her last," a hospital official told PTI.

Heath officials have confirmed that the girl was suffering from muscular atrophy since her childhood.

Bengal has been reporting a sudden surge in adenovirus cases but the state health department has said that there was nothing to be worried about as the situation was under control.

According to health officials, about 32 per cent of all the samples sent to the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric diseases until January this year tested positive for the virus. The PTI report also noted that most of these cases were from Kolkata itself.

According to West Bengal Director of Health Services Sidharth Niyogi, the increase in adenovirus cases was not noticed due to the Covid pandemic earlier. However, with Covid cases witnessing a sharp fall this year, and people undegoing tests, instances of adenovirus have shown an increase. 

On February 17, a two-and-a-half-year-old girl infected with adenovirus died at the Institute of Child Health, Kolkata. The girl was suffering from fever and respiratory problems for over a week

Earlier this month, a five-year-old child, suspected of being infected with both adenovirus and Covid-19, died in Laketown. 

Adenoviruses are a group of viruses that typically cause respiratory ailments such as flu-like illness, common cold, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, or croup, an infection of the upper airway, which becomes narrow, making it harder to breathe. 

When adenoviruses affect children, they usually cause infections in the respiratory tract or intestinal tract. While adenovirus respiratory infections are most common in the late winter, spring and early summer, they can occur anytime throughout the year. 

According to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, digestive tract infections are more common in children under five years of age, and most children have had one form of the infection by the age of 10. 

Adenoviruses are spread from an infected person to others through close personal contact such as touching or shaking hands, contact with stool, for instance, while changing diapers, through the air by coughing or sneezing, or by touching an object with adenoviruses on it, then touching the mouth, nose or eyes before washing the hands. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), adenoviruses can remain infectious for long periods of time on surfaces and objects, and are often resistant to common disinfectants.