NIH health alert on threat of seasonal outbreaks

Islamabad: The National Institute of Health (NIH) Friday issued its 43rd Seasonal Awareness and Alert Letter (SAAL) for Epidemic-prone Infectious Diseases in Pakistan.

The main purpose of SAAL is to alert health authorities and professionals, to facilitate timely and efficient response to outbreaks/ epidemics, and help reduce associated morbidity and mortality.

This letter is developed for winter season (October 2018-February 2019) in which NIH has exhibited patterns of high priority communicable diseases including Dengue, Chikungunya, CCHF, Diphtheria, Measles, Seasonal Influenza, Polio and Pertussis. These are predicted to be on high alert during said season. It also contains detailed introduction of diseases, case definitions, infectious agents, modes of transmission, case management and prevention.

Through SAAL, NIH has suggested that the provincial and district health departments including Islamabad Capital Territory as well as other stakeholders take pre-emptive measures against priority diseases. To facilitate stakeholders, the requisite technical guidelines and awareness material along with SAAL are also available on the NIH website: www.nih.org.pk.