Dengue fever outbreak in Bhara Kahu getting severer

Islamabad :The ongoing outbreak of dengue fever in Bhara Kahu area of the federal capital is getting severer as the number of confirmed cases of the infection from the area is continuously on the rise.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Tuesday has revealed that in last four days, as many as 34 patients have been confirmed positive for dengue fever from the federal capital of which 23 are residents of Bhara Kahu. These 34 patients landed in the hospitals in Islamabad while another 10 patients from Bhara Kahu area reported at Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi in last four days.

According to details, a locality namely Mangu Town along Col. Amanullah Road in Bhara Kahu area has been severely hit by dengue fever outbreak though the number of confirmed cases of the infection is also on the rise in scattered areas of Islamabad.

To date, a total of 164 patients have been confirmed positive for dengue fever at the public sector hospitals in Islamabad of which as many as 85 are residents of rural areas of the federal capital while 35 belong to Islamabad urban.

As many as 21 patients registered at the Islamabad hospitals are from Punjab province including 16 from Rawalpindi, two each from Murree and Jhang and one from Sialkot while six patients reached hospitals in the federal capital from AJK. Another 17 confirmed patients of dengue fever registered at Islamabad hospitals are residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Of 85 patients so far confirmed positive for dengue fever from rural areas of Islamabad, as many as 59 are residents of Bhara Kahu, 10 patients are from Union Council Sohan, five from UC Tarlai, six from UC Tarnol, two from PWD area in Union Council Koral and one each from Shah Allah Ditta, Rawat and Kirpa.

The number of confirmed patients of dengue fever being reported from Bhara Kahu area is still on the rise however the situation is under control at the moment mainly because of extensive fumigation and awareness drives in the affected area, said Additional District Health Officer at ICT Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He added that two teams of ICT health department have been deployed for outdoor surveillance in Bhara Kahu area and they have been carrying out fumigation activity including insecticidal residual spray in two shifts, morning and evening. The teams have not been availing any day offs for the last two weeks, he said.

He added that clean-up activity to eliminate larvae of dengue fever vector and adult mosquitoes inside homes is also on-going in the affected area. As many as 70 lady health workers are working for awareness and indoor surveillance for identification and elimination of larvae and adult mosquitoes inside houses, he said.  To a query, he said the weather conditions would most probably be suitable for dengue fever transmission till the end of October in this region of the country depending on fall in temperature.

He added the teams of ICT health department would, however, continue working in the field till November.