The cold weather has done little to mitigate the effects of dengue in the city. An 8-month-old, Priyesh Pathak, a patient of dengue shock syndrome is admitted in private-run Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Andheri in a critical condition. He is battling for life since December 14 after his condition deteriorated drastically. Priyesh is a resident of Appapada in Malad East. His father Rananjay is a rickshaw driver and mother Babita is a housewife.
Recounting their ordeal, Babita told dna that Priyesh was admitted to Veena Nursing Home in Malad on December 14. "Priyesh was running high fever, was irritable, had decreased appetite and was getting breathless. Doctors tried to stabilize him, but he started vomiting blood. Doctors at the nursing home asked us to get him admitted to KDAH for intensive care," said Babita.
Doctors at KDAH said the child was brought in a shock to the hospital on early morning on December 16. "He is a patient of dengue shock syndrome. When he was admitted his brain, heart, kidneys, lungs and liver had almost ceased to function," said Dr Preetha Joshi, consulting paediatrician at KDAH.
While being admitted in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) for over two weeks now, doctors have been able to revive his brain, heart and kidney function, however, his liver is damaged up to 85%. "The dengue virus attacks internal organs and causes them to swell. We have salvaged most of his organs and reversed the damage except for the liver," said Dr Joshi.
In dengue shock syndrome, the virus attacks the patient causing internal bleeding and multi-organ failure. It is usually preceded by a history of four days of continous high fever and headache with loss of appetite, sore throat, cough, nausea and vomiting. The shock causes patient to collapse, with an indetectable pulse rate and blueness around the mouth as well as bleeding from nose and other orifices.
The family has run a bill of up to five lakhs over the past two weeks at KDAH. Doctors are hoping that the child's liver damage may get reversed with treatment, else they say no option except for a liver transplant can save Priyesh's life.
Every day, Priyesh requires Albumin injections worth close to Rs15,000. Babita said they are in no condition to pay the heavy bills and are requesting humanitarian organizations in the city to fund their child's treatment.
While in the ICU, Priyesh has also acquired infection from a fungus named Candida. "The baby's immune system is so weak that micro-organic infections from the ICU can easily infect it," Dr Joshi said. Babita said the fungal infection had spread in Priyesh's lungs causing him pneumonia.
Doctors said Bilirubin levels in Priyesh's body were up to 25 times higher than the normal levels in the human body. Haemoglobin in the body breaks down to produce Bilirubin which is then processed by the liver. "Because the child's liver function is impaired, levels of Bilirubin are shooting up in the body," said Dr Joshi.
Since the start of the monsoon in last year, BMC has recorded 800 cases of dengue in civic hospitals, of which 19 persons have been reported dead.
Dengue is a fever that afflicts a patient bitten by aedes aegypti mosquito. The mosquito breeds in clean stagnant water and in the interiors of homes and offices. Complications may arise within 2 - 5 days due to dengue shock syndrome or internal bleeding Continuous high grade fever which does not subside with any medicine, joint pains, severe back ache, reddened appearance, severe pain in right side of abdomen, vomiting
While up to 70% of children who suffer from a dengue shock syndrome may survive, doctors said adding only nearly 30% of children who suffer severe liver damage due to dengue shock syndrome recover. Since August this year, eighteen 18 have been admitted in KDAH's ICU with dengue. Doctors said none of the cases were as severe as Priyesh and all were discharged within two weeks
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