Another 99 test positive for dengue in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi:As many as 99 patients have tested positive for dengue fever from Rawalpindi district in the last 48 hours hinting that the dengue fever spread has taken shape of an outbreak in the district from where a total of 543 confirmed patients of the infection have already been reported.

The alarming is the fact that another three patients belonging to Rawalpindi district have died of dengue fever in the last one-and-a-half weeks taking the total number of deaths caused by the infection to four in Rawalpindi. The infection has claimed all the four lives in the last 18 days.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Friday has revealed that a total of 43 patients belonging to Rawalpindi district have tested positive for dengue fever in the last 24 hours while 56 patients were confirmed positive on the previous day recording an average of around 50 patients per day from the district.

It is important that during the last one week, from September 9 to 15, a total of 180 patients were tested positive for dengue fever from Rawalpindi district making an average of around 26 patients per day while in the last five days, as many as 205 confirmed dengue fever patients have been reported from the district showing a tremendous increase in the number of patients being tested positive for the infection.

A sharp increase in the number of confirmed dengue fever cases being registered has made the situation alarming. Experts say that if the situation prevails, the spread of dengue fever in the district would be out of control within the next few days.

Data provided by the district health authority Rawalpindi on Friday reveals that as many as 96 confirmed patients of dengue fever reported from the district were undergoing treatment in different teaching hospitals in Rawalpindi. It is, however, important to mention that over 170 dengue fever patients were undergoing treatment at the three allied hospitals in town including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital including patients of the infection reported from the federal capital and other districts.