A teenager girl has died due to dengue fever (Viral Hemorrhagic Fever-VHF) in a local hospital on Monday while four under treatment patients of this viral disease are in serious condition. Almost 25 patients affected from dengue virus were brought to different hospitals of the city for treatment in last four days.
A girl of 14 years named Mehreen has breathed her last after eight day sufferings of dengue fever (Viral Hemorrhagic Fever-VHF) in Cantonment General Hospital (CGH) Rawalpindi on Monday afternoon. She was suffering from continuous fever since eight days, but brought to hospital very late as she was diagnosed VHF in advanced stage, said a doctor in the hospital.
Three more patients admitted in CGH are in critical condition and have been kept in isolation and intensive care. These patients are Tauseef 15, Khurshid 33 and Zahid Umer 17, while fourth patients Rabia 13 is admitted in Railway Hospital.
It was learnt that four patients were discharged from Railways Hospital and CGH after completion of the treatment course.
Eight male and nine female patients who are under treatment in Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) were suspected of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever(VHF). Their blood samples have been sent to National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad by the hospital administration. On receipt of report, from the laboratory it will be decided that how many patients would have been tested positive with the virus, a doctor revealed.
According to medical experts VHF is caused by a virus, which is carried by the mosquito. The virus after entering the body attacks on blood vessels and glands, which causes high-grade continuous fever along with oral and nasal bleeding. They told this scribe that bleeding inside the skin also takes place due to which red or black spots (patches) develop on the body of the patients. When not treated in time the virus damages the inner wall of stomach and afterwards patient expires.
Doctors said that injecting plasma in the patient's body is the only treatment of the disease that takes 7 to 10 days for recovery. They said that the Dengue Fever (VHF) has not an epidemic syndrome and could not be shifted from man to man. It can be spread only due to mosquito sting.
No patient of the Dengue Virus was admitted yet in District HQ Hospital and Holy Family Hospital. Meanwhile, Health Department, Government of Punjab has also admitted that three cases of dengue fever were detected in the province.
It was stated that every year 50-100 million cases of the dengue fever are reported world wide and if diagnosed at early stage it is easily curable. In Punjab three cases of this disease had been detected in Khushab and one suspected case in Rawalpindi. It was learnt that in past four months 21 patients of dengue fever had died.