KARACHI, Nov 7: The first dengue death of the month was confirmed by the Sindh health department on Wednesday, as 31 patients suspected of having contracted the mosquito-borne disease were rushed to seven government and private hospitals during the last 24 hours.

According to an official of the health department, a 38-year old man succumbed to dengue fever on Nov 3 in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. The latest fatality pushed the official death toll due to dengue or viral haemorrhagic fever to 15 — nine women and six men.

According to hospital sources, the patient was brought to the JPMC from a Korangi area with a history of severe bleeding from different parts of the body and critical shortage of platelets in his blood. The patient, who was admitted to Ward 5 of the hospital, died within 24 hours after admission, said a senior hospital doctor.

With the fresh reporting of patients at hospitals, the total official figure of patients suspected of suffering from VHF or dengue fever climbed to 2,170 in Karachi at 3pm on Wednesday. A total of 717 patients admitted to hospital during the last nine weeks have been tested positive for the dengue virus.

The statistics provided by the dengue monitoring cell of the Sindh health department do not include three other dengue-related deaths confirmed by hospitals, including PNS Shifa, during the last two-and-a-half months.