Pak: Dengue death toll rises to 80 in Punjab

Lahore: A dengue outbreak in Pakistan's Punjab province has claimed the lives of 25 more people, including a former cabinet secretary and a college professor, during the past two days, taking the estimated death toll to 80.

Ghiasuddin Ahmed, the former cabinet secretary who was also a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission, died at Shaikh Zayed Hospital while Shakra Batool, an assistant professor at Government Islamia College, succumbed to the dengue virus at Services Hospital.

Both died of multiple organ failure associated with Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS) and massive internal bleeding, doctors said.

Other victims claimed by the virus were a senior traffic warden and people from different walks of life, including the 65-year-old mother of an official of a power utility.

Doctors said the lack of Dextran 40, a medicine considered vital for dengue patients, was hampering efforts to control the outbreak.

Punjab Health Director General Aslam Chaudhry said the federal government had allowed the import of 5,000 Dextran 40 vials from India.

"Though the Punjab government arranged 400 injections from India a couple of days ago, all of them have been used because of the high number of DSS-affected patients," said a doctor who did not want to be named.

Doctors said DSS damaged the inner lining of blood vessels throughout the vascular system by causing severe inflammation, thereby increasing the permeability of arteries.

Official sources said the situation was getting worse with every passing day as the Punjab government had failed to control the epidemic in Lahore.

Medical experts and health department officials believe that DSS-related deaths were occurring primarily due to lack of the WHO-recommended life-saving drug Dextran 40, which is neither registered in Pakistan nor available widely despite the fact that an emergency has been declared by authorities.

On an average, 600 to 1,000 dengue patients have been registered every day in Lahore alone for the past three weeks.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has declared the outbreak an epidemic and called for joint efforts by the federal and provincial governments to curb it.