Viral fever: Senior doctor in Rawalpindi contracts dengue

At least 46 fresh cases reported at allied hospitals

RAWALPINDI: A senior doctor at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) has contracted dengue as 46 new cases of the fever were reported in Rawalpindi, health officials confirmed.

With these fresh reports, the number of cases reported at the allied hospitals in the city has reached 1,100.

Blood reports confirmed that HFH Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Jamil Janjua  had contracted the virus and was admitted to the hospital for treatment, another resident doctor confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Dr Janjua  oversees the night shift at the HFH and is more involved in the administrative side of the hospital.

Separately, Dr Uzra, a trainee doctor at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), has been admitted in the HFH for treatment after her blood test showed that she had dengue also.

Fresh cases

Separately, the district health department has received reports of 46 more patients who were confirmed to be suffering from dengue fever. In  total, health officials had sent blood samples of 57 patients to National Institute of Health and only 11 tested negative.

According to a breakdown of these cases, 15 were reported from Rawalpindi’s urban areas, one from Azad Kashmir, and 30 cases were from the capital.

As per details, as many as 218 dengue patients are currently under treatment at the three allied hospitals in Rawalpindi. Of these, 134 are being treated at the HFH, 70 at Benazir Bhutto Hospital, and 11 at the District Headquarters Hospital.

Of these, 83 patients came from different areas of Rawalpindi, 130 from Islamabad, four from outside Punjab, and one from Attock.

Fall in larvae

Meanwhile Dr Arshad Ali Sabir, executive district officer Health Rawalpindi, said that from the second week of October there had been a decrease in the dengue larvae detected in Rawal and Pothohar towns during the indoor surveillance campaign.

In an official handout, the EDO said the discovery of dengue larvae in houses had  decreased from 4   to 2.5 per cent. He claimed that the fall was the result of the targeted and coordinated anti-dengue campaign by the government.

Dr Sabir further claimed that they had managed to stem the rise in number of patients suffering from dengue fever and the situation was expected to improve in the coming days. However, he reiterated that people should remain vigilant and personally inspect breeding-grounds of dengue in their houses and take precautionary measures.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2016.