175 dengue cases from twin cities

Rawalpindi : Dengue fever outbreak is hitting hard the population in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district as in the last 24 hours, another 175 patients have been confirmed positive for dengue fever from the twin cities.

To control spread of dengue fever in the region, there is a need to strengthen surveillance against the infection along with strong monitoring of the activities being carried out by case response teams in the field.

The most important thing to control outbreak at the time, according to health experts, is that individuals must follow measures more seriously for elimination of possible breeding sites of mosquitoes and adult mosquitoes inside homes and workplaces. The district health departments both in the federal capital and Rawalpindi are giving due attention to case response activities in the areas from where cases are being reported though the spread of the infection could not be checked so far. According to health experts, it is time to sensitise population on control measures as it may yield better results.

To check dengue fever spread and control dengue fever outbreak in the region, community should play its role particularly for indoor surveillance as it may not be possible for the health departments to send teams to every house in the region for eliminating possible breeding sites of mosquitoes and adult mosquitoes from ho­mes and workplaces.

Experts say that people should ask elected councillors in their respective areas to take serious notice of risk factors that may cause breeding and growth of mosquitoes near to their homes. Individuals should perform insecticidal residual spraying inside homes and at workplaces at least twice in every week. No moist or water accumulation should stay for three to four days anywhere in homes and offices as it gives chances to breeding of mosquitoes. The key to control spread of the infection is to avoid contact with mosquitoes and individuals should follow all possible measures for the purpose.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Thursday reveals that in the last 24 hours, as many as 95 patients have been tested positive for dengue fever from Rawalpindi district while 80 from ICT taking the total number of patients so far registered from the twin cities to 5575 of which nine patients have so far lost their lives due to the infection.

A total of 2,816 dengue fever patients have been reported from Rawalpindi till Thursday morning while 2759 from the federal capital. The infection has claimed six lives from ICT and three from Rawalpindi so far.