Dengue disasters: Epidemic escalating with over 2,000 cases

District residents say that Health Department is not doing enough.

FAISALABAD:

The Dengue epidemic appears to be escalating in the province.

Locals in the district have accused concerned agencies of being incapable of dealing with the situation effectively.

The official record for Dengue seems to have exceeded 2,000, while a large number of cases have not yet been confirmed due to lack of laboratory facilities in rural areas of the province. Local residents have demanded that district authorities spread awareness about the disease and make provisions for treatment.
The administration has claimed that it has taken steps for preventing the spread of the disease by fumigating several areas.

However, locals have said that no fumigation has been carried out in over a dozen residential areas.
Bacteriologists said that ad hoc measures were not enough to contain the epidemic in the district. Bacteriologists have said that hospital officials do not have enough vaccines.  “Dengue is transmitted to people through biting of Aedes Mosquito which is infected with any one of the four dengue viruses including Den 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The virus itself cannot be spread by person-to-person contact and is always spread from a mosquito bite,” said bacteriologist Dr Babar.Health officials said that they had sought the assistance of the Punjab Government to combat the disease effectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2011.