The death of Srabanti Sarkar showed how severe the dengue outbreak is becoming in Chattogram.

Srabanti, daughter of Biswajit Sarkar, was a fifth grader at St Scholastica's Girls School and College in the city. She lived in Post Office Lane in the Sadarghat area with her family.

According to family sources, after suffering from fever for three days, Srabanti and her brother were tested for dengue on doctor's advice on July 3. The next day, the test report came back dengue positive.

They were being treated at home on doctor's advice.

Srabanti's fever decreased from Tuesday morning. A routine blood test was scheduled for Wednesday. But in the afternoon, her stomach swelled.

Her family members took her to a private clinic as her condition deteriorated and the doctor asked her to be admitted to the NICU immediately.

However, by then it was too late.

Contacted, Dr Aniruddha Ghosh, professor of Department of Medicine at Chittagong Medical College, said the period of 48-72 hours after coming down with fever is very significant for dengue patients as many of them develop complications, including accumulating fluid in the liver, low blood pressure, and renal failure.

"So the patients are to be kept under intensive observation of the doctor during this time and necessary treatment should be started immediately as per situation," he said.