A three-month-old baby and his father, among several others, are suffering from dengue in Ward-21 under the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC).

They are undergoing treatment in two separate private health facilities in the town. There has been a spurt in the cases of dengue in the Ward, though the civic body and the health department claim that the situation is under control. According to family members, the baby boy, Agniav Chakrabarty, had high temperature and experienced convulsions and was admitted in a private nursing home on 10 October, where he tested positive for NS1 the next day.

Following this, his father, Bapi Chakrabarty, was also admitted in a private nursing home with high fever, where he too tested NS1 positive.

Mr Chakrabarty works in a private nursing home. “My son and grandson both are suffering from dengue and are currently undergoing treatment in two private nursing homes. We have been taking all precautionary measures, like using mosquito nets, cleaning the premises, checking for water accumulation in the house regularly to prevent dengue. However, we are shocked as to how they were affected by dengue, especially my three-month-old grandson, who is seriously ill,” said Shipra Chakrabarty, who is also associated with a private nursing home.

The family lives on the ground floor of a rented house at Radhanath Sikdar Sarani.

It is learnt that one of the family members of the house owner, who lives on the first floor, had also caught dengue recently.

In this particular case, public health experts are not ruling out the possibility of multiple bites by the same infected mosquitoes.

Sources at the nursing homes said both the patients are, however, recovering. It is learnt that the platelet count of Mr Chakrabarty had dropped to 18,000 yesterday, but that it has gone up to 32,000 today.

Experts say that the normal platelet count of an adult human being ranges from 150,000 to 450,000 per microlitre of blood.

A resident of Ward 21, Seema Sen, who had tested NS1 positive, died during the Durga Puja, but the health department is yet to confirm the cause of the death. Local residents said many persons in the ward were suffering from dengue and that in some cases several members of the same family were suffering from the disease.

Siliguri Mayor Asok Bhattacharya said he was aware of the situation in the Ward. “We have successfully contained the situation and it is under control. In the 42nd week or in the first week of October this year, the number of affected persons was 17, while the figures in 2017 and 2018 were 50 and 154 in this period. We are taking necessary steps and maintaining proper coordination with the health department,” he said.

Meanwhile, entomologists said many insects, including flies and mosquitoes, got trapped in the ‘light trap’ laid for adult mosquitoes in Ward 21 last evening. Entomological studies in Wards 2 and 3 are also underway.