One confirmed case of dengue feverr eported from ICT rural area

Islamabad
The Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department has finalised second phase of prevention and control measures against dengue fever in rural areas of the federal capital however one confirmed case of the infection has already been reported from Sohan, a village located along Islamabad Expressway in the capital.
According to details, one Irfan Pasha, a resident of Sohan was admitted to Holy Family Hospital on August 18 after being suspected as a patient of dengue fever. Later, he was tested positive for dengue fever through NS1 test at the hospital.
After reporting of the case, the ICT rapid response team was sent immediately to the area of residence of the patient that performed fumigation and insecticidal residual spray in the patient’s house and 20 houses on each side of his residence, said Assistant District Health Officer at ICT Health Department Dr. Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.
He added apart from carrying out control measures in Sohan, the teams of health department conducted an awareness campaign in the area and educated people on how to avoid incidence of dengue fever.
The residents of the area were asked to prevent themselves from the bite of mosquitoes and to eliminate all possible sites of larvae and mosquito breeding inside houses. Lady health workers deployed in the area carried out social mobilization campaign, said Dr. Durrani.
To a query, he said the second phase of campaign that started on August 16 this year against dengue fever has been concluded on Friday and the health department has started third phase of the campaign, hospital based surveillance last week. “However, anti-mosquito spray and fumigation drive is continued in the rural areas of Islamabad successfully as part of preventive measures against dengue fever.”
He said since the start of the campaign on August 16, the fumigation and IRS have so far been carried out at 395 high risk spots in rural areas of the capital while as many as 104 schools were visited and lectures on dengue fever prevention were given. A total of 85 solid waste dumps were treated with fumigation and 148 tyre shops were visited by the teams of health department in the rural areas. The owners of tyre shops were given lectures on taking precautionary measures and asked to not to allow vector breeding in the tyres. The teams also warned the owners that if larvae were found from the premises under their control or from tyres in their shops, they would be challaned in the court of law and their material would be confiscated, said Dr. Durrani.
He added that health department has so far distributed 5,466 pamphlets bearing instruction regarding prevention and control of dengue fever among residents as part of its awareness campaign.
He added during the 10-day comprehensive campaign against dengue fever, the teams of health department also treated a total of 191 ponds of stagnant water with chemical Temephos granules to check mosquito cycle by restricting larvae development into pupae.
To a query, In-charge District Dengue Control Cell Dr. Durrani said the health department constituted six anti-mosquito spray teams that had already conducted fumigation and IRS in the union councils of Rawat, Bhara Kahu, Sihala, Tarlai, Shah Allah Ditta, Kirpa and Phulgran.
The purpose of the campaign was to kill the adult mosquitoes as the mosquitoes have started sprouting from larvae in the available conducive atmosphere of high temperature and humid weather. The chemical sprayed on the walls, hedges or plants would remain effective for six weeks and would be able to kill mosquitoes coming in contact in the said time period, he said.
He added that lady health workers would continue visiting door-to-door and distributing pamphlets in the community for raising awareness about the preventive measures against dengue fever.