First case of 2016 discharged after cure, no other suspect reported

Rawalpindi

The first confirmed case of dengue fever from the district in 2016 admitted to the Holy Family Hospital in town on March 26 has been discharged after cure while no other suspect of the infection has so far been reported from the area of residence of the confirmed patient.

Fazal Muhammad, the first positive case of dengue fever from the district this year, is a resident of Tehsil Gujar Khan. After his confirmatory test, health experts feared a possible spread of the infection at least in the native area of the patient, however, so far no suspect has been reported from the area.

Technically, the area from where the confirmed case of dengue fever has been reported cannot be termed as endemic at the time instead the case is of sporadic nature, said a top official serving at allied hospitals pleading anonymity.

Talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday, he said the patient tested positive for dengue fever at the HFH may have visited some place around his village where dengue fever vector ‘aedes aegypti’ would be existing but luckily, the confirmed patient or the existing dengue fever vector did not cause spread of the infection.

It is important that medically, confirmation of even a single case of dengue fever from an area is enough to prove existence of dengue fever vector in the area.

Many health experts are of the view that the confirmation of first positive case of dengue fever did not cause spread of the infection but it has rung warning bells convincing city district government and health departments in the region to further strengthen surveillance against dengue fever.

It is worth mentioning here that the district health department has already been running larvae identification and elimination campaign in the district and has started eliminating possible breeding sites of larvae of ‘aedes aegypti’.