Post-rain: Doctors fear outbreak of disease in Karachi

Garbage, accumulated rainwater could lead to malaria, dengue, typhoid, and other infectious diseases outbreak

KARACHI:

Health experts have urged the Sindh government to clean garbage and accumulated rainwater from the city on a priority basis after the recent monsoon spell, pointing out that these could lead to an outbreak of malaria, dengue, typhoid and other infectious and water-borne diseases.

Jinnah Sindh Medical University vice-chancellor Dr Tariq Rafi told The Express Tribune on Saturday that stagnant rainwater standing in different parts of the city could result in the spread of numerous diseases. "The larvae of mosquitoes will begin growing in the stagnant water. The monsoon is the best season for their reproduction.”

Meanwhile, Infection Control Society Pakistan president Prof Rafiq Khanani said that bacteria would spread rapidly in the garbage strewn across the city after the rain, which may become airborne. "The city is already dealing with Covid-19, but medical waste overflowing from the sewers will also cause virus spread."

Khanani expressed fear of a surge in cases of throat infections and nasal allergies in this weather.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2020.