The dengue virus has resurfaced in Pakistan, claiming its first victim this year. An 80-year-old woman fell victim to the virus and breathed her last at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) this Tuesday.
Akmaran Mai – a resident of Surjani Town – was diagnosed with several other illnesses in addition to dengue. She was admitted to the JPMC a few days before, on account of severe fever and multiple ailments. Doctors who attended to her discovered that she had dengue as well.
According to JPMC’s Dr. Seemin Jamali, her death was mainly due to the complications she suffered from dengue.
The Sindh Dengue Control and Prevent Program, which monitors and treats incidents related to dengue, was not aware of Akmaran Mai’s death. Dr. Abdul Rasheed, who heads the Program, said that he could not confirm whether the woman’s death was a dengue-related one. According to him, he did not receive any report or details regarding the patient from JPMC’s administration.
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He added that “a total 12 people, including four women, had died from dengue fever in Karachi last year.” He mentioned that 7 of them suffered from multiple diseases in addition to dengue.
Only this week, around 10 people have been diagnosed with dengue and fever since January 2018, with more than 200 cases reported in Karachi alone.
It should be noted that most of the dengue-related cases have occurred in Karachi. Reports from the Dengue Control and Prevent Program show that as many as 10 people have gotten infected in the city this week.
In total, 229 dengue cases have emerged in Sindh this year, with 216 of them in Karachi.
