KARACHI: A young woman became the third victim of dengue haemorrhagic fever in less than a week on Friday who died because of the lethal infection while a public sector hospital reported the death of a victim of rabies brought there in a critical condition, officials said.

A 20-year-old woman belonging to a family residing in North Nazimabad succumbed to the lethal mosquito-borne disease at a private hospital bringing the death toll because of dengue to 19 in Sindh this year, the officials added.

An official representing the Sindh Dengue Fever Prevention and Control Programme confirmed the death, saying the victim was taken to a private hospital in a critical condition where she succumbed to the disease that was tested as dengue.

She became the third victim along with two middle-aged women in the past six days who had died because of the deadly infection. The two women resided in North Karachi and SITE neighbourhoods.

The officials said some 235 cases of the infection had been reported from across the province in 24 hours. Some 207 of those cases were reported in Karachi alone.

In the first half of the current month, some 2,930 cases had been registered across the province — 2,723 from Karachi. In total some 6,147 cases have been reported from across Sindh this year with 5,766 from the teeming metropolis.

Rabies victim dies

A 55-year-old woman succumbed to rabies at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, officials at the hospital said.

Dr Seemin Jamali, executive director at the JPMC, said Hoor Bibi, 55, a resident of Benazirabad district was brought to the hospital on Wednesday in a critical condition.

The patient was bitten on the neck by a rabid dog in Benazirabad some five and a half weeks ago.

She was administered with some injections but no documentary evidence was seen in that regard.

Dr Jamali said the hospital had reported nine such deaths during the current year.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2019