Dengue cases spiking in Sindh, especially Karachi have shown doubled numbers of dengue fever cases in just two days.
According to data from the Sindh health department, in Karachi 201 dengue fever cases were reported and the number alarmingly rose to 403 cases on Friday.
The data has also shown that the largest number of patients infected with dengue mosquito bites were reported in the district east where 116 cases were reported on Friday followed by 107 cases in district Korangi, 72 in district Central, 61 in district South, 26 in district Malir, 12 in district West and nine in district Keamari.
So far during the current month, 2,145 dengue fever cases have been reported in Karachi out of which 842 were reported in district East, 431 in district Central, 377 in district South, 286 in district Korangi, 93 in district Malir, 64 in district Keamari and 52 in district West.
The other cities of the province are also showing increased dengue fever cases. So far, 16 cases have been reported in the Hyderabad division, one in the Larkana division, two in the Sukkur division and four in the Shaheed Benazirabad division.
According to health officials, official figures do not reflect the actual number of patients of people infected with the dengue virus. The reason is that most dengue cases having mild symptoms and illness have either been come for treatment at out-patient departments (OPD) of healthcare units or at private clinics. They have also said that proper record of dengue patients is not being kept at OPDs of the hospitals or at private clinics.
Medical experts have believed that the actual number of dengue fever patients could be five times more than what was being reported.
Similarly, malaria is also on the rise in Sindh where at least 3,000 cases of the disease were reported on Friday. The most number of malaria-affected patients belonged to Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Jamshoro, Tando Muhammad Khan, Dadu, Thatta, Sajawal, Badin, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Umerkot, Tharparkar and Mirpur Khas.
