Dengue threat looms as monsoon continues

Experts fear the spread of the disease may be catalysed amid Covid-19’s sixth wave

KARACHI:

While still navigating the looming fear of a sixth coronavirus wave, Karachi has been met with the return of dengue, a zoonotic adversary that pays the city a visit every monsoon. The standing water from the season’s downpour has created the optimal environment for the disease-carrying mosquitoes to breed.

Dengue virus is known to remain a threat from July to November in the port city, but medical experts fear that this time the disease may spread more rapidly in the wake of Covid-19’s sprawl, and therefore advised strict preventative measures to keep both viruses at bay. One of which, is a city-wide fumigation by the government to kill breeding mosquitoes and their eggs before they have a chance of taking to the city.

Dow University’s Molecular Pathologist Professor Dr Saeed Khan believes that malaria, another disease carried by mosquitoes, may also see an upsurge if the fumigation is not carried on an emergency basis. “But the most immediate threat at the moment is dengue, that is specifically caused by the female Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Their eggs hatch in moist soil, and the mosquito requires blood to survive. When a female mosquito of this variety feeds on a human, it transmits the disease,” he informed.

Per the doctor, symptoms of dengue may include severe body aches, followed by fever, pain in bones and joints and vomiting. While if the dengue virus is severe, the body of the infected patient often loses platelets due to which the patient starts bleeding from the mouth and other parts. In such a case, platelet transfusion has to be done to save the patient’s life, while unnecessary antibiotics and self-medication may prove harmful to people infected with dengue virus.

Dengue fever has been a recurring nightmare for Pakistan since 2010. In this regard, the Department of Health has also issued a report on people infected and killed by the dengue virus, which states that 911 dengue cases had been confirmed in Sindh, including Karachi, in the year 2021; including three deaths. In the year 2020, 4,318 cases were reported while 3 people died. In the year 2019, 1,6925 cases were reported out of which 46 people died. In the year 2018, 2,088 cases were reported, while two died. In the year 2017, 2,927 cases were confirmed out of which 12 died. In the year 2016, 2,418 cases were reported and three people died. In the year 2015, 3,962 cases were reported while 11 died.

In 2014, 1,295 cases were confirmed out of which 17 people died, while 2013, 5,970 cases were confirmed including 32 deaths. Similarly, in the year 2013, 5,970 people were infected with dengue, out of which 32 died. In 2012, 734 people were affected by dengue and four died. In 2011, 1,079 cases were reported to have been infected with dengue, while 18 died and in the year 2010, as many as 4,072 people were infected while 25 died.

According to the report, out of the 911 people who contracted dengue last year, 215 people were from Karachi Central, 203 from District East, 154 from District South, 156 from District West, 75 from Korangi District and 23 from Malir District. A similar trend could be seen this year, in consideration of which the Central district would require the most effort to keep dengue from spreading.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2022.