Dengue outbreak in Karachi; 21 admitted to hospitals

Karachi: (Monday, July 30, 2012) with summer season reaching at its peak, dengue has once again out broken, albeit, this time in a different provincial capital of Pakistan – Karachi.

According to the news, in last one week, about 21 patients suffering from dengue have been admitted to different hospitals of the city. The number of sufferers and presence of dengue in the largest city of the country has also
been confirmed by the Sindh Health Department’s Dengue Surveillance Cell.

Since January this year, about 126 dengue cases have been reported. The data in this regard has been collected from various hospitals registered with the government and regularly updated by the authorities concerned with the issue.

With monsoon setting in after few days, the Sindh dengue surveillance cell has already received over 100 patients, which are likely to increase as the rains pitch in.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the disease is transmitted by the bite of an Aedes mosquito infected with any of the four dengue viruses. It usually occurs in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world.

The experts say that symptoms of the disease appear in 3 to 14 days after the infective bite. They also regard dengue as a febrile disease that affects infants, young children and elders alike.

The symptoms for the disease range from a low/mild fever to a high fever with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain and rash. So far, the medical scientists have been failed to discover some specific antiviral
medicine for dengue.

While suffering through dengue, it is important to maintain hydration level, while the use of acetylsalicylic acid and non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs is not recommended.

Out of all four viruses and the fevers, dengue haemorrhagic fever (fever, abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding) is a potentially lethal complication, affecting mainly children. Early clinical diagnosis and careful clinical management
by experienced physicians and nurses increase survival of patients.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=29975

Posted by Fayyaz Yaseen on Jul 30 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry