KOLKATA: Malaria and dengue claimed three more lives on Friday. One of the victims is a Kolkatan and the other two were admitted to hospitals in the city from Howrah and Diamond Harbour. All of them reportedly died within two-four days of falling ill.
The youngest of the victims is Amiya Roy, a Class V student of RD High School at Nischintapur in Diamond Harbour. He was brought to Medical College Hospital three days ago with symptoms of dengue and died early on Friday.
The two others ��� Lakshmikanta Hazra (45) from Howrah���s Hut Lane and Kishore Roy (50) from Rajballavpara in north Kolkata ��� died of malaria. Hazra, who was admitted to a north Kolkata nursing home with malignant malaria a couple of days ago, died on Friday morning.
Roy, too, died of malignant malaria at Marwari Relief Society Hospital. However, senior officials of Kolkata Municipal Corporation���s health department refused to admit that he had contracted the disease in Kolkata, saying he had "come from Bihar with high fever".

With these three deaths, the death toll from malaria, dengue, encephalitis and what the government calls ���unknown fever��� has risen to 33, though the official figure still stands at 20.
The rapid spread of these killer diseases has triggered panic in the city and health officials seem lost for answers. Though KMC is yet to call it an epidemic, the health department has sounded a red alert. A health official said the total number of malaria cases in the city has crossed 35,000 and malignant malaria has affected more than 6,000.