Karachi reports 16th dengue death on Wednesday       

• "She was immediately shifted to the ICU and despite all possible efforts could not survive"
• Dengue fever cases are being constantly reported from across the city.
• faulty infrastructure is also aggravating the situation and people with weak immunity are turning to be the easy victim of the infection.

KARACHI: Kanwal, a 28-year-old woman from Landhi, passed away Wednesday morning due to dengue fever related complications, raising the total number of such deaths to 16 in the metropolis.

Anjum Rizvi, the spokesman for Liaquat National Hospital, confirming the latest dengue fatality, said the woman was brought to the emergency department of the hospital on Tuesday night in a precarious condition with profuse bleeding and extremely low platelet count.

"She was immediately shifted to the ICU and despite all possible efforts could not survive," said Rizvi.

An official associated with Sindh Dengue Prevention and Control Program, talking to APP, said dengue fever cases are being constantly reported from across the city.

"There are, however, certain pockets registered to have higher number of the (dengue fever) cases and these are mainly those getting their water supplies from sources other than regular piped water," said the official, who is also a senior doctor associated with the provincial health department.

Agreeing that the city is increasingly dependent on water tankers and associated services, he said this has been regularly registered to be one of the major factors contributory to the outbreak of the disease.

To another query, he said faulty infrastructure is also aggravating the situation and people with weak immunity are turning to be the easy victim of the infection.

"I as a concerned can only appeal to the citizens in general and communities in particular not to leave puddles of water in their surrounding unattended," he said.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Cente (JPMC), Dr. Seemi Jamali, said patients with high grade fever are regularly visiting the hospital, however, it is only after essential investigations that there status could be determined.

Not every one tested dengue positive is admitted but only those turning up with severity of associated complications, she said emphasising that the vast majority are attended at the out-patient department.

Dengue fever, basically a self-limiting disease, can be managed through simple intervention through absolute care to counter dehydration and also efficient protection against the mosquito causing the spread of virus among people.