HARIPUR, Oct 7: Two suspected dengue patients have died here while 14 others with symptoms of high fever are under observation in a ward of district headquarters hospital, informed sources told here on Thursday.
The two victims were identified as Muslim s/o Safdar and Mohammad Abbas s/o Mohammad Sadiq. However, local health authorities said that they had not yet received reports of the blood samples of the two victims that were sent to National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, two weeks ago.The suspected prevalence of dengue fever has been reported from different parts of the district and the sources said that the DHQ hospital and the women and children hospital had so far received around 40 patients suffering from high fever, body pain, nausea and loss of appetite.
The sources said that of these patients some were admitted with their mouth, nose and gums bleeding.
“Blood samples of over 60 suspected patients have been sent to the NIH for dengue test and 14 patients are still under observation,” Dr Bilal, district coordinator Health Information Services, told this correspondent.
Dr Nasir, a medical specialist at the DHQ hospital, confirmed that of the three cases they referred to Agha Khan Laboratory for dengue test, one was found positive.
When approached for comments, Dr Ejaz Masood, the district in-charge of dengue campaign, confirmed the prevalence of dengue fever in Haripur. He said that patients with high fever, body pain, loss of appetite and fatigue must immediately visit the DHQ hospital for complete check-up and blood test.
Dr Hasnain Raza, chief executive of Al-Ghazi Hospital said that clinically there were two types of dengue viral diseases -- dengue classical and dengue haemorrhagic.
“The classical dengue starts with abrupt onset of fever with generalised body pain, especially headache and backache, and sometimes vomiting and generalised rash on the body could precede the disease,” he said, adding that haemorrhagic fever was the dangerous form of dengue fever.
In dengue haemorrhagic, initially the onset of disease is very slow; the patient might feel soar throat, body pain, and malaise, but after that patient starts bleeding. The bleeding can be from nose, eyes, and gums and with stool and urine, he added.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also declared Haripur district as one of the dengue endemic-hit zone in Pakistan. The disease was first reported in 2003 when some military cadets were hospitalised with dengue symptoms.
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