CITY RECORDS ITS SECOND LEPTO DEATH

A day after the first death of suspected leptospirosis, the city witnessed another such case on Tuesday. A 28-yearold man died of suspected leptospirosis. However, a senior civic health official maintained that the cause of death will only be confirmed after the epidemiology death review committee report.Imtiaz Mohammed Ali, a resident of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, was reported to be suffering from severe fever, headache and joint pain, after which he was admitted to Lokmanya Tilak General Municipal Hospital, Sion, last week.

“We noted the symptoms of leptospirosis in Ali, who was brought to our hospital on Saturday. He showed symptoms like high fever, headache and body pain. However, he was later shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after his condition deteriorated,” said the doctor.

The doctor added, “Ali’s pre-diagnostic reports have been sent to the death review committee of the epidemiology cell of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to ascertain the cause of his death and, more so, to confirm whether the cause was leptospirosis.”

Dr Padmaja Keskar, Executive Health Officer, BMC, has said that as of now, death is suspected to be due to leptospirosis, as the committee is yet to scrutinise the case. “The death committee report will come next week after which we can conclude whether he died of leptospirosis or not,” she added.

Dr Keskar said that municipal hospitals are geared to offer preventive, as well as curative treatment for leptospirosis. “After the first spell of rains, we have given preventive doses of Doxycycline to nearly 27,000 people,” she said.