Dengue fever outbreak hits Tarnol

Islamabad :Population in various localities falling in Union Council Tarnol of the federal capital has been severely hit by a dengue fever outbreak and the number of confirmed cases of the infection being reported from the area is continuously on the rise.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Monday has revealed that over 100 confirmed cases of dengue fever have so far been registered by Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department from Tarnol area.

To date, over 135 confirmed cases of dengue fever have been reported from Islamabad of which as many as 120 cases have been reported in last four weeks. Almost 80 per cent of the total workforce available with the ICT health department for prevention and control of dengue fever has been deployed in UC Tarnol to contain the outbreak.

A total of 111 confirmed cases of dengue fever from rural areas of the federal capital have so far been registered with various public sector hospitals of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The ICT rapid response teams have performed fumigation and insecticidal residual spray in the areas from where confirmed cases have been reported, said Additional District Health Officer at ICT Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

Talking of the control measures, he said the teams are also performing fogging in the area of residence of a confirmed patient being reported along with performing IRS inside the patient’s house and 12 houses on each side of his residence.

He added that a total over 300 workers are carrying out field activities in Tarnol area both for indoor and outdoor surveillance. Over 75 teams of lady health workers have been deployed for indoor surveillance, he said.

The LHWs are paying door-to-door visits in Tarnol area for larvae identification and elimination along with educating public on how to avoid dengue fever while as many as 10 teams comprising sanitary and malaria inspectors along with sanitary patrols are working in the field for outdoor surveillance, said Dr. Durrani.

The teams of sanitary inspectors and malaria inspectors have been treating hotspots and unnecessary accumulation of water in the area with temephos granules to check growth of larvae of dengue fever vectors, he said.

He added the teams of LHWs are removing all possible breeding sites inside homes mechanically, by hand and asking housewives to not to allow development of any probable breeding sites inside homes like water coolers having water, old broken furniture, toys, lids, cans, pitchers and saucers, flower pots, utensils and all those items that may contain rain water.

We hope the situation would be under control soon in UC Tarnol as the teams of ICT health department have been carrying out fumigation activity including insecticidal residual spray in two shifts, morning and evening and the teams are not availing day offs even on Saturday and Sunday, said Dr. Durrani.