Dengue fever continues hitting population in twin cities

Rawalpindi : The dengue fever is continuing to hit the population in this region of the country as in the last one-and-a-half weeks the three allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) have tested 340 patients positive for the infection though it was expected that after the fall in mercury level, there would almost be no cases of the infection.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday revealed that as many as 33 more patients have been tested positive at the allied hospitals in the last 24 hours.

On Sunday, as many as 75 patients including 51 confirmed patients of dengue fever were undergoing treatment at the allied hospitals while 35 patients have been discharged in the last 24 hours. As many as 30 patients including three patients suffering from dengue shock syndrome and 27 patients suffering from dengue hemorrhagic fever were undergoing treatment at the three teaching hospitals on Sunday. DSS and DHF are rare complications of the infection considered as more fatal than dengue fever cases.

In Islamabad and Rawalpindi along with adjoining hilly areas, the winter has set in and the temperature has started recording a sharp fall but still the three teaching hospitals in the town including are receiving well over 30 confirmed patients of dengue fever per day on average.

Dengue outpatient departments at the allied hospitals are still receiving well over 350 patients per day on average as in the last 11 days, the three hospitals registered a total of 4087 patients at dengue OPDs. To date, a total of 32467 patients have been registered at the Dengue OPDs this year at the RMU allied hospitals.

Many health experts, however, believe that the dengue fever cases being reported at the time are those who were bitten by ‘aeges aegypti’, the mosquito that causes dengue fever last week when weather conditions were a little warmer. They believe that the number of cases would register a significant decline after further fall in temperature.