Dengue fever kills 8 more in Pakistani city

KARACHI, Oct 19 (Reuters) Mosquito-born dengue fever has killed eight more people in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi, raising the death toll to 20 over the past four months, officials said today.

Around 180 people are still being treated for the disease in hospitals across Pakistan's largest city.

''We have had eight deaths since the beginning of October. People are worried with this outbreak but we are keeping things under control,'' Abdul Majid, a senior official in the health ministry of the southern province of Sindh, told Reuters.

Karachi with a population 14 million is the provincial capital.

Dengue is a disease of the tropics and is caused by a specific type of mosquito, the Aedes mosquito, that bites during the day. The mosquitoes usually breed in rain water in discarded containers and car tyres.

Neighbouring India has reported nearly 5,000 dengue cases, including 94 deaths, since August.

Majid said there had been around 1,000 suspected cases in Karachi and some 290 of them tested positive for dengue fever.

He said special emergency units had been set up in the hospitals to deal with the disease.

Reuters PDM DB1259