Dengue fever claims another life

Karachi

A 52-year-old man died of dengue fever at a private hospital on Monday, hospital and family sources told The News on Wednesday.

Muhammad Ashraf, son of Muhammad Adam, was admitted to a private hospital on Britto Road, Soldier Bazaar, last week due to high grade fever and headache.

Medical examinations in the hospital as well as private labs revealed that he was infected with dengue virus.

Doctors at the hospital confirmed that the deceased, who was an employee of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), remained under treatment at the hospital till Monday when he suffered a “cardio-respiratory arrest”, due to dengue shock syndrome (DSS).

They maintained that the patient died due to mosquito-borne viral infection.

But officials of the Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Cell denied any death due to dengue infection, saying that they had not received any such information from any hospital in the city.

"I am receiving calls since evening regarding a death due to dengue fever but I have received no such report," said Program Manager Dengue Prevention and Control Cell Dr Masood Solangi.

As per the official stance of the Sindh health department, only one death has been confirmed due to dengue fever this year in Karachi; however, unverified reports say that the mosquito-borne disease has claimed lives of around half-a-dozen people.

Health officials claim that many private and some public hospitals were not sharing details of patients with dengue infection and deaths caused by the viral infection, causing immense problems for the health officials in taking steps for the control of the vector-borne disease.

Following recent rains and accumulation of the rainwater in different areas of the city, health officials fear that Karachi may face an epidemic of dengue viral infection as the specie of mosquito that causes dengue fever breeds in freshwater.

With no system of local governance in place in Karachi for the last several years, no steps have been adopted by the health and municipal authorities for control of the mosquito-borne diseases as no fumigation has been done by the authorities this year. Karachi is already in the grip of another deadly disease, Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which has already claimed six lives in the city this year with a latest death reported on Monday.