Dengue fever outbreak near to its seasonal close

Islamabad: The ongoing dengue fever outbreak that has proved much severe in nature and effects particularly in Islamabad Capital Territory is getting closer to its seasonal end as the average number of patients being reported per day from the federal capital has dropped down to below 27.

In the last week, 183 patients were tested positive for dengue fever from ICT that is the lowest number of cases in a week after September 25 this year. The highest number of dengue fever cases reported in a week during the recent outbreak from ICT was 919, from October 17 to 23 while from November 7 to 13, the number was 249.

Almost similar is the trend in the Rawalpindi district from where around 20 patients are being tested positive for dengue fever per day on average. In the last 48 hours, as many as 52 new patients were reported from ICT while 44 were from the Rawalpindi district.

It is important that dengue fever hit the population in the federal capital harder this year as compared to Rawalpindi from where as many as 2,387 patients have been reported so far. From ICT, over 4,550 patients have so far been reported positive for dengue fever of which 19 have already lost their lives due to the infection.

Like the past 16 years, a fall in temperature is playing a vital role in controlling the outbreak. Experts believe that the current trend of decline in the number of patients is due to the cold spell that restricts mosquitoes’ activity, particularly outside homes and offices.

In low temperature, mosquitoes including ‘aedes aegypti’, the vector that causes dengue fever become unable to bite because of weak energy in joints that do not let them make a firm grip and mount on the body of a person to bite and for suck blood.

There is a significant decline in the number of patients for the last two weeks though according to epidemiological findings, the seasonal close may take another two weeks or so. Health experts believe that there may be only sporadic cases of dengue fever from this region of the country after the first week of December though it depends much on further fall in mercury.