Only a fraction of ‘positive’ patients need to be hospitalised

Experts urge public not to panic as deaths, infections mount


Umer Farooq August 28, 2017
Experts urge public not to panic as deaths, infections mount. PHOTO: REUTERS

PESHAWAR: As the toll from the ongoing dengue virus outbreak tops 10 while infections soared past 2,000 across the province, officials and experts have assured the panicking general public that over 90 per cent of infected people never develop any of the symptoms and remain fine.

They stated if 100,000 people test positive for the dengue virus, around 90,000 will not develop symptoms.

“Around 90 per cent of dengue cases are asymptotic. They do not develop any symptoms and do not need to be screened, while only 10 per cent develop symptoms. Out of these only one per cent develop complications and need to be admitted [to hospitals]. The remaining nine per cent only require paracetamol and good oral fluid intake,” stated Bacha Khan Medical College Community Medicines Assistant Professor Dr Iftikharuddin, adding

“This is what we discovered during an outbreak in Swat in 2013 when a similar team from Punjab visited Swat,” he said.

The assistant professor stated that the general public should not panic since dengue was curable. He, however, stressed upon the need for targeting mosquito breeding sites.

He added that patients in the province were primarily being screened using the strip-test method but the method only had a 50 per cent success rate with the rest testing ‘false positive’.

On the other hand, K-P Health Services Director General Dr Shabina Raza was of the view that the ratio was far lower with 99 per cent of those infected by dengue not developing symptoms.

Dr Raza added that 50 per cent of the remaining one per cent who need to be admitted to hospitals recover from the virus but a smattering develops complications due to shock.

“Even among the one per cent, 50 per cent recover but others could become victims after their blood thickens and their blood pressure falls,” she told The Express Tribune.

Meanwhile, Punjab Dengue Experts Advisory Board Chairman Dr Faisal Masud was also of the view that despite having been tested positive for the virus, 90 per cent of patients do not develop symptoms after their blood is screened.

“No clear symptoms develop in 90 per cent of the infected people even after testing positive for dengue virus,” Dr Masood said, adding that those testing positive in further investigations, their blood pressure lowers and treatment in the first three to five hours was extremely important.

According to the Dengue Response Unit, some 294 people were screened for dengue and 24 fresh cases were confirmed on Sunday, raising the total number of dengue infected patients to 2,994. As many as 10 people have so far died in the province due to the virus.

Focus on Chikungunya

As doctors and government officials remain fixated on dengue, the health secretariat on Sunday sent a letter to the provincial health services director general, urging  Dr Raza to also focus on Chikungunya (a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes) as well as the crippling polio virus.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2017.

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