No technical guidelines issued

Rawalpindi

The district health department and the three teaching hospitals in town received no technical guidelines from the government so far to check incidence of Zika virus disease and to manage its cases in case they appear.

Ironical it is to hear from top health officials that the government issued no directives so far regarding surveillance and treatment of Zika virus disease because the incidence of the infection has not been reported anywhere in Pakistan as yet.

Benazir Bhutto Hospital has not received any directives so far from the government about management protocol of suspected patients with Zika virus disease nor the hospital has any testing facility for confirmation of the infection in a patient, said Medical Superintendent at BBH Dr. Asif Qadir Mir while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

He added that the BBH can provide supportive medication to suspected patients of Zika virus disease in case of its incidence as there is no medication available for Zika virus disease around the globe.

To date, the District Headquarters Hospital has received no technical guidelines on management of suspected patients of Zika virus disease nor has the hospital administration been informed of availability of testing facility for confirmatory tests in case of suspected patients, said DHQ Hospital chief Dr. Khalid Randhawa while talking to ‘The News’.

To a query, he however admitted that the situation is alarming as the breeding of vector for dengue fever and Zika virus disease, ‘aedes aegypti’, could not be controlled in the region.

It is important that the mosquitoes ‘aedes aegypti’ and ‘aedes albopictus’ are considered as the main vectors for transmission of Zika virus disease like that of dengue fever virus. Also it is important that there is no testing facility available in Pakistan for confirmation of Zika virus infection in a patient.

Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Arshad Ali Sabir, when contacted, said the Punjab government has not issued any directives on measures to check Zika virus disease as no case of the infection has so far been reported in the country. Mode of transmission of Zika virus is same like that of dengue virus and we are already working for elimination of mosquitoes ‘aedes aegypti’, he said.

To a query, he said that no special precautions are needed at the time for surveillance against Zika virus disease because the virus does not exist in Pakistan. In case its cases are reported, what the health department can do is to only work for controlling vector of the disease, he said.

Zika virus disease is not fatal; he said and added that it may only cause congenital microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. For quarantine at airports, provincial governments can do nothing instead the federal government should frame a national policy, he said while responding to a query.

Zika virus infection is more alarming because it symptomatic in only about one out of every five cases. When symptomatic, Zika infection usually presents as an influenza-like syndrome, often mistaken for other arboviral infections like dengue or chikungunya.

It is important that the government has done nothing so far for surveillance of Zika virus disease even at international points of entry, ports and airports nor the ports and airports are being monitored to ensure early detection of any exotic mosquitoes from endemic countries.