KARACHI, Aug 4: The unchecked exposure of people to wide range of toxic chemicals, particularly agro-chemicals and pesticides, coupled with massive and irrational administration of antibiotics
is registered as the major cause of growing cases of blood cancer in the country.
Doctors maintain that ignorance and lack of due consideration to adopt necessary precaution in handling fertilizers, pesticides and agro-chemicals is emerging as a threat for rural population and their associated vulnerability to varied blood diseases.
Besides, the health experts say that irrational medication with particular reference to antibiotics is a major factor contributing to the recent surge in blood cancer cases.
Talking to APP, the medicine department head of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Prof Mashoor Alam, said that the unchecked exposure of rural population to pesticides, fertilizers and other agro-chemicals as well as irrational use of antibiotics in urban population were increasing the cases of blood cancer.
Referring to the unchecked use of anti-malaria drugs and anti-typhoid medicines, he said that this could damage bone marrow, white blood corpuscles and platelet.
He explained that the bone marrow produced and managed the blood components like red blood cells (carrying oxygen to lungs) while white blood corpuscles built defence mechanism against infections and platelet helped in healing wounds.
Senior pathologist Dr Syed Abdul Mujib acknowledged that constant rise was observed in the number of such cases and a significant portion of blood donation was reportedly transfused to aplastic-anaemic patients.
He attributed the scenario to three basic facts ranging from growing public awareness about the disease to increasing accessibility to diagnostic and treatment facilities, besides unsafe trends enhancing exposure of unassuming individuals to high risk conditions.
He said that urgent and proper scientific studies was prerequisite to ascertain actual causes and develop a plan to prevent the deadly ailment, mainly affecting the youth.
He was supplemented by Prof Mashoor Alam who said that youth and children were the most common victims of aplastic-anaemic and other blood cancers. Most of the patients reporting with the very ailment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre fell in the age group of 15 to 26 years, he said.
In this regard, Prof Mashoor Alam referred to the plight of 18-year-old Sohail Ahmed, belonging to a remote village in Khairpur and the sole breadwinner of his family of eight, who was admitted to the ward seven of medicine department about a month back in precarious condition manifested through acute anaemia and epistaxis (constant bleeding from nose) besides running with high fever.
He said that Sohail Ahmed was immediately provided with all required medical intervention, including repeated blood transfusions and course of "anti-thermostatic globulin" injection, yet the boy held 50 per cent chances of survival since he was diagnosed with aplastic-anaemia.
Prof Alam said that at least Rs60,000 were required for bone marrow transplantation of the boy at any of the very few private medical centres in the city having such facilities.
He said that none of the government sector hospitals had the very facility although a surge in the instances of aplastic-anaemia was reported with every passing year.
