Mysuru: Just hours after District Health Officer (DHO) Dr. B. Basavaraju declared yesterday that Mysuru city has not witnessed a single death due to dengue since 2014, a boy from Gokulam died of severe fever. The boy died at 11.20 pm on Monday (June 5)suffering from severe fever and here too, the DHO denied that it was a dengue death.

The boy has been identified as 10-year-old Dhruvakumar, son of Manju Kumar, a resident of Railway Colony in front of Vontikoppal Sri Lakshmi Venkataramana Swamy Temple on the KRS Road. The boy was studying in  5th standard at Nirmala Convent in Gokulam.

Dhruvakumar contracted fever on June 3. His parents took him to Vijayanagar Nursing Home at Vijayanagar Railway Colony where the doctors told them that the boy had symptoms of dengue. The boy was later shifted to Apollo BGS Hospital.

When a blood test was done at Apollo, there too symptoms of dengue were noticed. According to Bharath Kumar, the boy’s relative, doctors at the Vijayanagar Nursing Home and Apollo BGS Hospital had confirmed that the boy had dengue symptoms.

Though doctors tried their best to treat Dhruvakumar, he failed to regain consciousness and breathed his last on Monday (June 5), Bharath Kumar said.

Dhruvakumar was the younger son of Manju Kumar, who is working as a technician in Railway Department. Speaking to Star of Mysore, Bharath Kumar said that the DHO must have proper statistics before giving public statements. “There are many cases of viral fever in the area where Dhruvakumar lived. Health officers and MCC officials must ensure that measures are taken to prevent the disease outbreak,” he said.