Dengue claims 66 lives, affects 44,000 in Pakistan

Dengue outbreak has claimed 66 lives and affected over 44,000 people in Pakistan this year .

According to a document available with Dawn, this year 44,415 cases of dengue have been confirmed. Of this, 12,433 cases were reported from Islamabad, 10,142 from Sindh, 9,260 from Punjab, 7,346 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 3,051 from Balochistan.

While 1,672 cases are reported from the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, 511 cases are included in other category.

Dengue has claimed as many as 26 lives in Sindh, 22 in Islamabad, 14 in Punjab, 3 in Balochistan and one in POK, the report said.

In 2011, 27,000 people were affected by the disease. The number of mortalities was almost six times higher at 370 compared with this year, Pakistani media reported on Wednesday.

Dengue is transmitted mainly by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which thrives in densely-populated tropical climates and breeds in stagnant pools of water.