3 more die of dengue fever

Rawalpindi : As many as three more dengue fever patients died of the infection here at Holy Family Hospital taking total number of deaths so far caused due to the infection at the three allied hospitals in town to 16.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Wednesday has revealed that to date, the dengue fever has claimed at least 10 lives at HFH in last four weeks while six patients have died of the infection at Benazir Bhutto Hospital this season, from September 6 to date.

In last 24 hours, the three teaching hospitals have tested another 211 patients positive that has taken the total number of confirmed patients so far registered with the allied hospitals this year to 5968 while on Wednesday, results in as many as 150 cases were yet to be finalized by the allied hospitals.

Data reveals that the admissions of dengue fever patients to the teaching hospitals is also on continuous rise as on Wednesday, a total of 866 patients including 667 confirmed patients of dengue fever were undergoing treatment at the three teaching hospitals.

The most alarming fact is that out of 667 confirmed patients admitted at the hospitals, 257 were suffering from dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), a complicated form of the infection that has greater mortality rate while seven patients with dengue shock syndrome (DSS) including two at HFH and five at BBH were undergoing treatment in high dependency units along with nine other patients having DHF.

Medically, DHF is characterized by high grade fever, damage to lymph and blood vessels, bleeding from the nose and gums, enlargement of the liver, and failure of the circulatory system. The symptoms may progress to massive bleeding, shock, and death. This is called dengue shock syndrome (DSS). People with weakened immune systems as well as those with a second or subsequent dengue infection are believed to be at greater risk of developing DHF.

To date, the HFH has tested a total of 3,120 patients positive for the infection while the hospital has yet to receive final results in 25 cases on Wednesday while the BBH received a total of 1,616 confirmed patients of the infection so far and it has been waiting for results in 92 cases. The District Headquarters Hospital has so far received a total of 1,232 confirmed cases of the infection while on Wednesday, results in 33 cases were being awaited.