Chikungunya epidemic confirmed

Sindh plans to set up virology lab; govt holds weak winter responsible for mosquitoes thriving and spreading virus

The confusion over the mysterious disease plaguing the city for the past week or so was brought to an end on Thursday when the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad confirmed the outbreak of the Chikungunya virus.

Meanwhile, to alleviate the time-consuming process of diagnosing the illness, the Sindh Health Department has decided to set up a modern virology lab for the province.

Blood samples collected from three of the five patients undergoing treatment at the Sindh Government Hospital Saudabad were dispatched to the NIH, which confirmed infection of the Chikungunya virus – a mosquito-borne disease, which is relatively new to Pakistan, especially Sindh, and has symptoms similar to that of the dengue and Zika viruses.

“NIH Islamabad has confirmed that three of the five samples sent from Sindh Government Hospital Saudabad are infected with Chikungunya virus,” Sindh Health Secretary Dr Fazlullah Pechuho told The News, adding that people should not be alarmed, as the health department and the municipal authorities had started taking measures to deal with the epidemic.

“I have released the entire year’s budget to Sindh Government Hospital Saudabad, Malir, immediately, while medicines would also be made available within a couple of days for the large number of patients visiting the hospital,” said Dr Pechuho. He added that steps were being taken to eradicate mosquitoes and its larvae from the area by using all available resources.

Since Sunday, hundreds of people started falling sick with high-grade fever and joints pain in Malir’s Khokhrapar locality. After ruling out dengue, malaria and enteric fever, doctors suspected that it could be an epidemic of the Chikungunya virus, which is carried by Aedes aegypti – the same mosquito that carries the dengue virus.

Strangely, no diagnostic laboratory in Karachi or the rest of the province is capable of identifying the Chikungunya virus, so the Sindh government dispatched the patients’ blood samples to the NIH and the Aga Khan University Hospital sent them to the US.

In its report, the NIH told Sindh’s health authorities that the blood samples of nine-year-old Zohaib, 11-year-old Umer and 45-year-old Ikhlaque contained the Chikungunya virus.

The NIH also issued an advisory for the control and prevention of the Chikungunya viral infection in Karachi, advising authorities to eradicate mosquitoes responsible for the spread of the disease, eliminate its larvae and take all precautionary measures to prevent and control the dengue viral infection. 

Weather responsible?

Dr Pechuho said mosquitoes that spread the dengue virus were carriers of the Chikungunya virus, but this year the weather did not change in winter as it remained hot, due to which mosquitoes thrived and caused the epidemic of the Chikungunya viral infection.

“But we have timely responded to this menace and are dealing with it with full force. The health department, with the help of the municipal authorities, is planning to eradicate and eliminate mosquitoes and is also urging people to support the authorities in the cleanliness drives and improve sanitary conditions in their respective areas,” he added. He said that people should also adopt precautionary measures, wear protective clothing, use mosquito-repellents and avoid letting freshwater or even sewage accumulate in their vicinities so that mosquitoes could not establish breeding grounds near their residences. 

Sindh’s virology lab

Modern equipment would be acquired in the coming weeks to perform real-time polymerase chain reaction tests in Karachi and the rest of the province to detect viruses instead of sending samples to Islamabad or abroad, said Dr Pechuho.

“It is my first week in the health department and I’m really concerned about the lack of modern diagnostic facilities here,” he added.

“We are going to acquire modern equipment for Karachi, which would be used for hepatitis diagnoses as well as identifying other viruses, including the Chikungunya virus.”

The health secretary said that initially the equipment, known as Cobas, and testing kits would be acquired for molecular analysis and testing in Karachi and later for all the district hospitals so that samples would not need to be sent to the federal capital or abroad for analysis or confirmation.