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61 suspected Dengue cases in 5 major hospitals

By Urooj Zia

KARACHI: Sixty-one suspected cases of Dengue fever were reported in the past four days at five major hospitals in the city, Sindh Health Department's Additional Secretary Capt. Majid told Daily Times Monday.

"Seven cases were reported at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), six at Liaquat National Hospital (LNH), 15 at Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), 14 at Ziauddin Hospital, Nazimabad, and 19 cases were reported at Jinnah Post-Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) until 3 p.m. on Monday," Majid told Daily Times.

The cases had not been confirmed, though, and tests were being conducted to verify the symptoms. Blood samples from the government hospitals were sent to test centres in Islamabad, and results were expected in eight to ten days. "In the meantime, patients are given symptomatic treatment-if the platelet count decreases, the patient is given blood, if the fever gets too high, that is controlled, etc.," Majid said.

However, he added, private hospitals did not have specialized isolation units. "Suspected patients are, nevertheless, kept in separate wards which are duly quarantined, and precautionary protocols are observed by all medical staff coming in contact with them," he said.

Replying to a question about why all suspected cases were not kept in specialized isolation wards, Majid said that quarantine wasn't essential for Dengue, because the disease had no human-to-human transmission.

However, conceding that initial symptoms for Dengue fever were the same as those for any other Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF), including the deadly Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), all suspected cases of Dengue should be strictly quarantined, Majid explained. Stricter quarantine measures were enforced for patients coming in from Balochistan, he said, because all four cases of CCHF reported in the city earlier this year hailed from Balochistan.

"We haven't had patients from Sindh testing positive for Congo. However, all suspected cases of Dengue are quarantined, and safety procedures maintained," Majid said.

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