KARACHI: The lethal dengue hemorrhagic fever claimed two more lives in the city which included its youngest victim, a three-year-old, bringing the toll because of the mosquito-borne disease to 42 so far this year, officials said on Saturday.

The child was brought by his family from Gulshan-i-Malir to a private hospital suffering from septic shock with multi-organ dysfunction and other complications, officials at the health ministry said.

They added that the tests for dengue came positive on the child who could not survive.

The child is said to be the youngest victim of the lethal infection.

The same private hospital reported the death of a 48-year-old woman because of the same disease.

The woman, a resident of North Nazimabad, suffered from diffusion of large B cell lymphoma, or febrile neutropenia, apart from various other complications, the health officials said.

The number of people who have died of dengue is 42 in Sindh as Karachi recorded at least 101 such cases in the past 24 hours. Another 11 cases of dengue were reported from other districts of Sindh.

Some 5,265 cases have been reported in November in Karachi, while the rest of Sindh reported 485 cases of dengue fever.

A total of 15,304 cases have been reported from across the province with 14,241 of those cases documented in Karachi.

Despite the arrival of winter, when the lethal mosquito goes into hibernation, the number of dengue cases has failed to dip.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2019