HARIPUR, June 28: Two men and three women died while a dozen more fainted and were hospitalized due to sizzling heat, hospital sources told Dawn on Tuesday. Among the most affected were small children and the elderly, the sources said.

The death toll from the baking temperatures has been confirmed from public-sector hospitals and private health-care units of Haripur.

The dozen or so people hospitalized had suffered heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

The dead have been identified as Taj Bibi, Prof Mohammad Rafiq, Humayun Khan, Kulsoom Bibi and Zulekhar Begum.

Medical specialist Dr Ejaz Masood told this correspondent that severe hot weather could be one of the causes of cardiac arrest or renal failure among the elderly.

He said that when aged people were exposed to harsh weather conditions, they were the most vulnerable group to suffer heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

“In this situation, when people, with low liquid intake, use medicines to cure cough, flue or prostrate diseases without consulting physicians, they become vulnerable to heat stroke or exhaustion and this could lead to one’s death,” he added.

He said that when perspiration was suddenly stopped, both due to dehydration or sweat mechanism disturbance, the body temperature could shoot up to 106 or 107 and the patient could die of cardiac arrest or renal failure.

He said the deaths so far reported from different parts of Haripur might have been caused by either heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

He said small children below the age of one year were the second most vulnerable group.

Dr Ejaz advised that patients above the age of 60 and having a history of cardio-vascular diseases should be more cautious about going into the open or taking recourse to self-medication. He added that medicines meant to cure cough, flue or common fever often resulted in disturbing the sweating mechanism.

Likewise, he said, fluid intake should be increased and direct exposure to sunlight be avoided to the maximum.