‘Death’ of dengue

Now our winter of content has set in, as far as dengue fever is concerned. The year 2019 would be remembered as the year of the dengue as this year from 8 July to 12 Nov, 47,120 cases were reported across the country. The disease claimed 75 lives. The worst affected was the Islamabad Capital Territory where from 6 Aug to 12 Nov, 12,986 cases were reported. The death toll was 22. Authorities in the ICT say the fall in temperature has killed the dengue mosquitoes bringing down incidence of the disease to zero. The anti-dengue campaign will now be limited to case-response surveillance only. Attention will be focused on prevention in the future. The campaign for the next season will start in March next. The authorities ascribed the reason for the unprecedented virulent outbreak of dengue in Islamabad to slackness by some of the government departments concerned with public health. The authorities have admitted that this year the anti-mosquito spray campaign was launched very late.

Of course, the drop in temperature has killed dengue mosquitoes in Islamabad. The temperature has fallen in winter all over the country but it cannot be said with certainty that the decrease in temperature has also resulted in wiping out mosquitoes. The state of cleanliness in cities and towns of Sindh is highly unsatisfactory. There are un-cleared garbage dumps and gutter overflows, which are good breeding grounds for mosquitoes. From 1 Sept to 12 Nov, 12,053 cases of dengue have been reported in the province. Thirty-three deaths have occurred. There is also the long-persisting problem of fake medicines. Recently, some people connected with medicine retail trade were caught filling bottles with spurious multivitamin tablets. In 2010, the then interior minister told the National Assembly that 45-50 per cent medicines being sold in Pakistan were either fake or substandard. Take solace in the saying: The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2019.

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