First two dengue fever cases confirmed

Islamabad : The first two confirmed cases of dengue fever in 2019 have been reported from rural area of the federal capital in last three days that may set a stage for a possible outbreak of dengue fever in this region of the country bringing into existence one of the most important risk factor for appearance of seasonal dengue fever, the infected traveler or native.

Both the two patients confirmed positive for dengue fever are from Union Council Rawat though it is believed that one of the two patients contracted infection in Karachi.

The two patients, one female and the other male who are residents of rural area in the federal capital were tested positive at two of the three teaching hospitals in Rawalpindi, said District Health Officer Islamabad Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani while talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday.

He said one of the patients was confirmed positive at Holy Family Hospital on Saturday and the other at District Headquarters Hospital on Monday. The district health department Islamabad has carried out case response activity for surveillance against dengue fever in the localities from where the first cases of the infection have been confirmed positive, he said. He added the response teams have performed fumigation and insecticidal residual spray in the areas from where confirmed cases have been reported. Fogging has been performed in the areas of residence of the patients and IRS performed inside the patient’s house and 12 houses on each side of the patients’ residence, he said.

He added the two patients have been discharged after treatment. Obviously, the confirmation of infection in a traveler or native increases the chance of spread of dengue fever in a region as the female dengue fever mosquitoes, ‘Aedes Aegypty’ or ‘Aedes Albopictus’, carry one of the four types of dengue viruses from the dengue patient to the healthy person and transmit the disease, said Dr. Durrani who is an epidemiologist while responding to a query.

It is important that the Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) here at the HFH received a confirmed patient of dengue fever last month though from District Attock, some 90 kilometres from Rawalpindi.