Three days after it emerged that over a dozen people had died in 20 days in a small locality of Keamari district in Karachi, doctors and district authorities have narrowed down the cause of the deaths to an outbreak of measles and toxic fumes from surrounding illegal factories.
At least 15 residents of the Ali Mohammad Goth area of Keamari District have died within a month, while at least 34 are still suffering from symptoms.
But the silver lining is that there have been no deaths in the three days that district administration, health and environment officials have spent in the locality.
Sindh Health officials have set up a camp in the locality of 935 residents which lacks even a single government-run dispensary. The closest health center available to residents is a private hospital.
From December 26 to January 25, around 18 residents died after complaining of high fever, sore throat and shortness of breath. However, the Sindh health department has now narrowed the cases to 15, noting that a foul smell in the area started after January 5, following which the bulk of deaths were reported.
Deaths took place within five to seven days of symptoms appearing, locals said.The report by the Sindh health department said that the most-affected group were between two to four years of age. Around 40 (81%) of infected people were in the age group of less than 11 years.
