30,000 People Affected as Mysterious Paralyzing Disease Hits Karachi

In Karachi, an unknown disease is spreading  and has already claimed many victims in its path. This new disease is crippling the joints of hands and feet of the people it affects and it seems to be endemic.

Current reports state that Karachi’s Malir district is widely affected by it.

Only the name of the disease is known while the rest of the details are still unknown. The disease is called “Chikungunya”. According to Senior Director Health Services, Dr Abdul Wahid Panwer, there have been 30,000 patients who have complained of high fever and excessive body aches and over 70 medical professional have also been affected by the disease.

Doctors Racing to Find a Cure

Executive District Officer (EDO) health Karachi visited Sindh Government Hospital in Saudabad as soon as the news of the disease started spreading. He visited the affected patients undergoing treatment.

Dr. Abdul Waheed said that the disease was being studied and examined very closely by a team of expert doctors and ways for more treatment are being figured out.

Fifteen blood samples have been taken from the patients by now. Five of them were sent to Agha Khan University Hospital, five of them to National Institute of Health Islamabad and five were sent to Sindh Government Lab.

A committee from the World Health Organization (WHO) also came to the hospital and took blood samples from the patients to diagnose the disease.

A special team of doctors from Islamabad are going to pay a visit to Malir today to help investigate this case and help develop remedies and a solid cure.

Is The Disease Life Threatening?

Based on the familiarity of the symptoms exhibited by the victims, medical experts say that the mystery disease could be as the result of the Chikungunya virus. Experts have said that infected mosquitoes can act as a source for this virus. However further study is still underway to determine its exact cause.

The symptoms of this disease, as mentioned by the experts, are high fever in the initial stage and severe pain in the joints later on. These joints end up being completely paralyzed afterwards.

Dengue prevention and control program manager in Tharparkar, Dr. Masood Solangi was optimistic regarding the recent cases in Karachi. He confirmed that the disease is rarely ever fatal.

“If cases were found positive, they will be the first cases of Chikungunya in the country.”

Via DailyPakistan, Geo

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