KARACHI - Experts warned citizens not to take any antibiotic during high-grade fever and must consult their physicians as antibiotic can be more harmful in case of dengue fever which is spreading in the metropolis with symptoms of high-grade fever, vomiting, abdomen pain, rashes on body and headache. Monsoon rains have helped increasing the disease in the City, as test-sample of one more patient in the metropolis had found positive which increased the number of dengue cases to 50 since January 2008. While six new patients have been admitted to the City hospitals with symptoms of the disease on Wednesday. However, a total of 289 patients suspected with dengue virus have so far been reported in different hospitals of the City, said Dr Shakil Malik, Focal Person of the Dengue Surveillance Cell, while talking to The Nation. He said, "Around 25 patients with symptoms of disease including high-grade fever, vomiting, abdomen pain, rashes on body and headache have been still admitted to different hospitals of the City like Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Civil Hospital Karachi, Aga Khan University Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital, Ziaudin Hospital, Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Bismillah Taqui NICH." Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Karachi Chapter Secretary General Dr Samrina Hashmi has urged citizens to help themselves in fighting the disease as the government was just issuing press statements instead of taking some concrete steps to curb this disease. Apart from official statements, no citizen witnessed any fumigation drive by the government to eradicate mosquitoes which are causing malaria and dengue fever. "Citizens are advised just to take 'Paracetamol' medicine during high-grade fever, because intake of any antibiotic can aggravate the state of the patient. In this situation, self-medication is more dangerous and can be resulted in the death of the patient. There is no specific treatment for the disease whose viruses are transmitted to humans through bites of infective female Aedes mosquitoes. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito bites during the day, lives in domestic settings and breeds in both clean and polluted water," she added.