Dengue fever outbreak setting a new record

Rawalpindi : The dengue fever outbreak in this region of the country is still much intense and it seems as it is about to set a new record, like the years 2015 and 2016, for the most positive cases of the infection in a year reported at the three allied hospitals in town that have received well over 8200 confirmed patients of the infection so far this year.

In last three days, the confirmation of 638 patients positive for dengue fever at the three allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital amounts to 203 patients a day and the number is much higher if compared with the most severe outbreaks of dengue fever in the past, in 2015 and 2016.

The infection has already claimed 23 lives at the allied hospitals that had 764 dengue fever patients admitted in their wards on Saturday including 563 confirmed patients of the infection while results in as many as 124 cases were being awaited.

Since the first though limited outbreak of dengue fever in 2006 in the region, it never happened that the allied hospitals received over 200 confirmed patients of the infection per day till 2018 but this year, the allied hospitals have been receiving over 200 confirmed patients per day for over two weeks.

Data collected by ‘The News’ has revealed that from 2006 to 2008, the total number of confirmed patients of dengue fever reported at the allied hospitals in town was around 170 while in 2009, less than 30 cases of the infection were reported from the district.

It is important that the first outbreak of dengue fever though limited in nature was reported in 2006 in the district.

In 2010, the number of confirmed patients of dengue fever registered with the allied hospitals touched the figure of 400 for the first time while in 2011, slightly over 800 patients were reported at the three teaching hospitals including HFH, BBH and DHQ Hospital. In 2012, not even sporadic cases of dengue fever were reported from the district that enjoyed dengue-free status mainly because of efforts made well in time by the concerned government authorities.

In 2013, however, the dengue fever was back with a vengeance and well over 1100 confirmed cases were registered with the three teaching hospitals. In 2014, as many as 1406 patients were tested positive for dengue fever at the allied hospitals.

In 2015, the region faced the worst ever outbreak of dengue fever with nearly 4,000 cases confirmed positive at the three teaching hospitals in town till December while in 2016, over 3,900 cases were registered. In 2016, the dengue fever outbreak however claimed at least eight lives at the three allied hospitals and three lives in hospitals in the federal capital.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Saturday reveals that to date, a total of 4,231 patients have been tested positive for dengue fever at Holy Family Hospital, 2,369 patients have been confirmed positive at Benazir Bhutto Hospital while as many as 1,599 patients have so far been tested positive at District Headquarters Hospital.

The panic among public and severity of the on-going dengue fever outbreak can be gauged from the fact that in last 24 hours only, the dengue fever outpatient departments at the allied hospitals received 1,579 patients of which over 350 were suspected as probable cases of the infection.