18-year-old girl becomes city’s ninth dengue victim

Karachi
An 18-year old girl died of the dengue hemorrhagic fever on Monday at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, raising the current year’s death toll in the city to nine.
Aroosa Maqsood, 18, a resident of North Nazimabad, had been taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital on Saturday with high-grade fever, low platelets count and other complications and unfortunately passed away on Monday, said Dr Salma Kausar, senior director of medical and health services at Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). Though this was the first dengue-related casualty at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital this year, for all of Karachi it was the ninth.
Meanwhile, experts dealing with patients of dengue hemorrhagic fever in Karachi claimed that every day hundreds of people with the dengue viral infection were brought to different public and private hospitals in Karachi. They said even though it was the middle of November, mosquitoes that spread the viral infection were still around due to the warm weather, poor sanitary conditions and the absence of any fumigation.
In 2014, the dengue hemorrhagic fever had claimed 15 lives. The health officials claim that the dengue haemorrhagic fever has become an endemic disease – a health condition which remains in one particular area over the course of the year and keeps killing people most of the year.
The manager of the provincial dengue prevention and control program, Dr Masood Solangi, said while talking to The News that directions had been issued to all major public and private hospitals in the city to establish isolation wards for dengue patients and all the required resources, including mega platelets units, diagnostic kits and cell separators, had also been provided.
However, health experts challenged the steps taken by health and municipal authorities for the prevention and control of the dengue hemorrhagic fever. They said fumigation was not being carried out in the city to get rid of mosquitoes while treatment facilities at public hospitals were also not up to the mark for adequate treatment of hemorrhagic fever.
Just last month, it was observed that the insecticide used for fumigation in the city KMC authorities, alpha cypermethrin, expired in storage.
Health experts urged people not to rely on authorities for fumigation and eradication of mosquitoes, and instead, take precautionary measures to protect themselves from mosquito bites.
“Wear clothes that cover your whole body and use mosquito repellents since it is the only way to protect you and your children from mosquitoes,” advised Dr Saqib Ansari, a senior haematologist.
“Pay special attention to cleanliness around your homes. Don’t let water accumulate in the surroundings and improve sanitation conditions on self-help basis to prevent breeding of mosquitoes.”