Flood-hit Pakistan battles soaring dengue cases
STORY: "According to the data that we have, more than 4,000 people are suffering from this (dengue fever). According to the data we are receiving, this tally is increasing by about 150 to 200 patients daily," Health Minister for southern Sindh province, Azra Fazal Pechuho told Reuters.
Other conditions including dysentery, diarrhea, malaria and skin diseases were also widespread, she told a news briefing last week.
The looming health crisis was a mounting woe for Pakistani authorities, who were already under pressure to render aid to millions of displaced flood victims, after losing their homes to unprecedented floods.
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers triggered the disaster that has shown no sign of abating for the last month. The United Nations and Pakistan have linked the extreme weather to climate change, while some 600,000 people have fled their homes.
As many as 33 million people of the 220 million in the South Asian nation were affected in some way by the floods that swept away houses, roads, railways and bridges and submerged around 4 million acres of farmland.
