KARACHI, Nov 14: One more patient succumbed to mosquito menace at a private hospital on Tuesday, while patients afflicted with viral and dengue fever in a good number were rushed to city hospitals.
The number of patients admitted to city hospitals for mosquito borne diseases, including dengue, during the past five months surged to 3,535 as 91 fresh patients affected by dengue virus were brought to hospitals from across the city, belying the health authorities’ claim that Dengue problem has rightly been addressed and reporting of cases is on the decline.
According to data released by the Dengue Fever Cell of the Sindh Health Department on Tuesday, the dengue epidemic deaths numbered 37 in the case of Karachi and 41 in the case of Sindh.
Giving details about the latest death, Dr Shakeel A Mullick of the DFC said that one Anila Awan, 32, a resident of Malir, who was admitted on November 11, died on Nov 14. She was admitted with a history of severe bleeding, low platelets, fever, chills, rigors and rash.
This latest report of death took the tally of fatalities at LNH to 10, out of which three happened to be those of women patients. The hospital till Tuesday received 843 as in-house patients, out of which 138 were detected positive for dengue fever.
A maximum of 17 new patients were admitted to Ziauddin Hospital during the past 24 hours ending at 2pm, followed by 14 each at Aga Khan University Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
A study of the DFC data gave to understand that minors were considerably proving victims of dengue. Off 129 patients admitted in National Institute of Child Health 75 (58.13 per cent) have been tested dengue positive.
It was further learnt that patients from Ghotki, Mirpurkhas, Ziarat (Baluchistan) have also been brought to hospitals in Karachi very recently.
Those who were rushed to hospitals on Monday or Tuesday from various city localities belonged to Sultanabad, Defence, Saeeadabad, Qasba Colony, Saddar, Lyari-Miran Naka, Nishter Road, Banaras Colony, Rashidabad, Mohajir camp, SITE, North Nazimabad, Surjani, Orangi, Manghopir, Liaquatabad, New Karachi, Haroonabad, Clifton, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Gulsstan-i-Jauher, and other areas.
Experts and medical practitioners who do not see any let up in dengue episode suggest for surveillance of residences and surroundings of patients to know about target vectors and suppress them.
The patient position at different city hospitals on Monday remained as follows: AKU- 25 (14 new), LNH - 38 (9), CHK -17 (10), ZUH - 49 (17), BTH–15(4), JPMC-28(10), NICH-11 (4), Abbasi Shaheed Hospital - 45(14), Baqai Hospital - 13(3), Hamid Hospital-1 (1), Darul Shifa -4 (one), Zainab Punjwani Hospital – one (one) and Kutiyana Hospital – seven (three).
The DFC did not receive daily information from five reporting hospitals on Tuesday.
In the meantime, a booklet distributed by Bismillah Taqee Institute of Health Sciences and Blood Disease Centre stressed the need for undertaking fogging in areas where vector carriers Aedes Aegyti mosquito, which bites an individuals in day time, live. Dengue fever or Dengue Haemorrhagic fever is not a contagious disease, it said.Coming on the illness among children, the manual says children with dengue fever usually have mild illness and require symptomatic treatment only. However, those with secondary bacterial infections or severe disease will require antibiotics and platelet transfusion.
It was further stated if a woman gets dengue fever, at term, and if platelet counts was low, the risk of post partum haemorrhagic increases.
