Dengue fever outbreak starts losing intensity in the region

Rawalpindi :After a significant fall in mercury in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the dengue fever outbreak has started losing intensity though still nearly 70 confirmed patients of the infection are being reported here at the three teaching hospitals in town per day on average.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Monday has revealed that as many as 223 more patients have been tested positive for the infection at the three allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital (HFH), Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) in last 72 hours at an average of around 74 patients of the infection being reported daily while previously, the allied hospitals were receiving well over 250 confirmed patients per day.

In last 24 hours, as many as 69 patients were tested positive at the allied hospitals including 27 patients each at HFH and BBH while 15 at DHQ Hospital. On Monday, a total of 269 patients including confirmed and suspected ones were undergoing treatment in wards at BBH, HFH and DHQ Hospital while a total of 16 patients were undergoing treatment relatively in critical condition at high dependency units of the allied hospitals. Of these 16 patients, 14 were having dengue shock syndrome, the most fatal form of the infection.

It is important that last week, the number of admitted patients to the three allied hospitals was well over 400 while in the beginning of October this year, well over 800 patients were undergoing treatment in wards at the allied hospitals.

The total number of positive cases so far registered with the allied hospitals has reached to 11282 and to date, the infection has claimed a total of 36 lives at the three teaching hospitals.

In last 24 hours, the allied hospitals have admitted 68 patients and it shows that the influx is still very high though it is showing downward trend as compared to the number of patients reaching allied hospitals till the end of October. Till the last week of October this year, the allied hospitals were receiving 120 to 150 confirmed patients of the infection daily on average while at present, 70 to 80 confirmed patients are being registered with the three teaching hospitals.

According to details, the HFH tested a total of 5825 patients positive for dengue fever while as many as 3286 patients have been confirmed positive for the infection at BBH and 2171 at DHQ Hospital. The infection has so far claimed 21 lives at HFH, 10 lives at BBH and five at DHQ Hospital.

It is important to mention that the on-going outbreak of dengue fever can be termed as much intense in nature not only for number of confirmed patients but also on the subject of incidence of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Out of a total of 11282 patients tested positive for dengue fever, as many as 3728 patients have been diagnosed with DHF while 179 patients with DSS.