KARACHI - Increasing reports of Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases have become the talk of the town, as the death toll due to this disease within nine months has increased. The Citys hospitals receive only a few patients affected with the fatal disease, which is quite low as compared to the actual figures. Dengue Surveillance Cell, set up by Sindh Health Department, is unable to maintain correct statistics of the disease affected people, an official of the health department told The Nation on Wednesday. Dengue Surveillance Cell has confirmed the death of two more patients infected with dengue fever. It is a mosquito-borne infection that causes a severe flu-like illness, and sometimes a potentially lethal complication called dengue haemorrhagic fever. As per the cell, Muhammad Afzal (35), resident of Qasba Colony, died of dengue fever on November 16 at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. On the other hand, Ms Khadija (36), resident of Orangi Town, passed away on November 21 at the same hospital. The cell has confirmed that around dozens of people with the complains of high-grade fever, vomiting, abdomen pain and rashes on skin are admitted to several hospitals of the City, including Ziaudin Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Civil Hospital Karachi, Sindh Govt Qatar Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Complex, Liaquat National Hospital, Seven Day Hospital, OMI Hospital, Ankle Sariya Hospital and Aga Khan University Hospital. As per the announcement of the cell, during the last eleventh months there are 1,237 cases suspected with the diseases had been reported and out of them 742 declared positive. Health experts have warned the citizens to be careful of Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) and said that the reporting of new cases of the disease on the daily basis needed proper attention of the competent authorities. Conversely, Secretary General Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Dr Habib-ur-Rehman Somro has already expressed their serious concern over the inefficiency of the health department, especially, towards getting control over the epidemic like situation in the province. As per World Health Organisation, During epidemics of dengue, infection rates among those who have not been previously exposed to the virus are often 40 percent to 50 percent, but can reach 80 percent to 90 percent. An estimated 500 000 people with DHF require hospitalisation each year, a very large proportion of whom are children. About 2.5 percent of those affected die. Without proper treatment, DHF fatality rates can exceed 20 percent. Wider access to medical care from health providers with knowledge about DHF - physicians and nurses who recognize its symptoms and know how to treat its effects - can reduce death rates to less than 1 percent. The spread of dengue is attributed to expanding geographic distribution of the four dengue viruses and their mosquito vectors, the most important of which is the predominantly urban species Aedes aegypti. A rapid rise in urban mosquito populations is bringing ever greater numbers of people into contact with this vector, especially in areas that are favourable for mosquito breeding, e.g. where household water storage is common and where solid waste disposal services are inadequate.