Time for seasonal appearance of dengue approaches

Rawalpindi: This is high time for all the stakeholders including health departments in the region to start social mobilization campaigns and to contact community to look for sites and places inside or outside homes that can attract rain water and provide a favorable place to the dengue fever vector, female ‘aedes aegypti’ mosquitoes to lay eggs.

The time for seasonal appearance of dengue fever has approached and to avoid a possible outbreak of dengue fever, individuals must ensure elimination of all possible breeding sites of mosquitoes mechanically that can harbour larvae to develop into adult mosquitoes. At this point in time, the chemical elimination of mosquitoes by using adulticides is of minimal use because of repeated spells of rainfall almost all across the northern part of the country.

All known risk factors that cause spread of the infection including rains, rising temperature, humidity and infected travellers or natives are there in existence and the existing conditions, according to health experts, have increased the chances of a possible outbreak of dengue fever in the coming days.

It is worth mentioning here that in Rawalpindi, the monsoon months, from July to October, are considered as the peak season for dengue fever transmission while most of the cases. The effects of temperature, rainfall, artificial flooding (man-made watering of lawns, fields and water spillage) and movement of infected patients from one place to another are the genuine factors behind spread of the infection and its outbreak.