Dengue fever spread getting faster

Rawalpindi:The dengue fever spread is getting faster with every passing day as in the last 48 hours, another 10 individuals have tested positive for the infection from Rawalpindi district taking the tally to 82 however, Chief Executive Officer District Health Authority Rawalpindi Dr. Asif Arbab Khan Niazi claimed that the situation is still under control.

Talking to ‘The News’ on Sunday, the CEO said the DHA had selected 1500 workers to be appointed in the field for surveillance across the district though only 1150 of them joined the service. We are going to induct another 350 workers soon, he said.

He said the teams of the district health authority are working hard in the field and carrying out vector identification and elimination campaigns on a regular basis because of which the number of dengue fever cases are still lesser than that of the cases reported last year till this point in time. He added that well over 80 union councils in the district were having breteau index over three some two weeks back that has now been recorded as around 70 and it is only due to hard work of the teams in the field.

It is important that breteau index over three means that three per cent of the screened houses have adult mosquitoes or larvae of ‘aedes aegypt’, the vector that causes dengue fever.

To a query, Dr. Asif said the district health department requires services of female workers for indoor surveillance in the district. He added that after the induction of some 350 female workers, the surveillance would be strengthened further enabling the health authority to control the spread of dengue fever in the district.