Death of Anna University student was not due to Dengue, clarifies Public Health Department

The cause of death of an Anna University student at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH) on Friday was scrub typhus and not dengue, the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine clarified on Saturday. Panic over dengue gripped the campus, with scores of students turning up for blood tests.

The 20-year-old hostel inmate came to the Kalaignar Centenary Super Speciality Hospital in Guindy on Thursday (September 17, 2026) with four days of high-grade fever and was referred to the KMCH the same day. He died the next day. “Diagnosis: scrub typhus. No dengue diagnosis. It’s a single reported case,” the department posted on X.

The post came after social media and some television channels reported that there had been a dengue outbreak, which had led to three deaths.