Two more die of dengue in Karachi

KARACHI: Despite the weather turning a bit cold over the past few days in Karachi, the city is still in the grip of the dengue fever epidemic as two more people, including a married woman and a teenage boy, died due to complexities of the mosquito-borne illness in the city on Saturday, officials said.

“A 32-year-old married woman from the Rufi Green Apartments, Abul Hasan Asfahani Road, died due to complications of dengue fever at Aga Khan University Hospital on Saturday,” an official of the Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Programme told The News.

With the two more deaths, the number of dengue victims climbed to 46 in the current year in Karachi alone, officials said, adding that most of the dengue deaths were reported in the months of October and November, while people were still dying due to the vector-borne illness in the month of December also.

The Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Programme official said the woman was taken to the hospital due to high-grade fever and other complaints and she died due to the dengue shock syndrome, multi-organ failure and other complications at the health facility. He added that the hospital did not release the identity of the patient due to privacy reasons.

Similarly, a 16-years-old boy from the Usmanabad area of Garden was also taken to the Aga Khan University Hospital after he tested positive for dengue, and he died of complications of the mosquito-borne illness, he added. The unfortunate boy, the official said, also died due to septic shock, the multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and other complications. He added that the hospital also withheld the personal details of the patient due to privacy reasons. Experts warned people in Karachi to remain cautious of the fever, saying it was now an endemic disease which remained present the entire year, and mosquitos responsible for the fever continued to haunt people irrespective of the months and season in Karachi.