Doctors struggling with a constant flow of patients in a quake-ravaged Pakistani city warned on Saturday that the number of sick could swell dramatically in the coming weeks, as harsh weather creates conditions for pneumonia and other illnesses to spread, AP reported. A total of 234 patients with winter-related ailments were admitted within the past 24 hours, said Bashir Rahman, medical superintendent at the state-run Abbas Institute of Medical Science hospital in Muzaffarabad, one of the cities hit hardest by the Oct. 8 earthquake. Seven had pneumonia, he said. "The situation now is under control but in the coming days it could get worse, especially for people living at high altitude," he said. Dr. Abdul Hamid of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, which runs a field hospital in Muzaffarabad, said 174 people with respiratory tract infections, flu, fever and pneumonia had been admitted in the past two days. Fearing a second wave of deaths, soldiers and emergency workers have been racing to get food and proper shelter for the estimated 3.5 million people left homeless by the magnitude 7.6 quake that killed 87,000 people in Pakistan and India. --more 1050 Local Time 0750 GMT
