Telangana: Dengue wipes out family, infant orphaned

A baby has been left orphaned after his parents, sibling and great great grandfather died of dengue in a span of 15 days in Manchiryal town of Telangana.

Gudimalla Soni, the infant's mother, who hails from Sri Sri Nagar area, died while undergoing treatment for dengue at a corporate hospital here on Wednesday. She had delivered the baby on Tuesday.

Relatives say that the series of deaths began with Soni’s husband Gudimalla Rajagattu (30), a teacher, on October 16. He succumbed to viral fever after undergoing treatment for five days in Karimnagar.

While the family was trying to recover from death of their breadwinner, Rajagattu’s grandfather Lingiah (70) succumbed to the viral fever on the fifth day. Within five days, Rajagattu’s daughter Sri Varshini too succumbed to dengue.

Soni, who was in an advanced state of pregnancy, was rushed to a corporate hospital where she gave birth to a baby boy but she died later.

The Telangana High Court had recently pulled up the government chief secretary SK Joshi and officials of the health and municipal departments for failure to contain the mosquito menace. A woman judge of Khammam court, M Jayamma, had also died of dengue, after undergoing treatment for 10 days.