Death by dengue

Biggest problem in the dengue outbreak is public panic. Calming the public could help manage the problem rationally.

In Lahore no one talks of anything other than dengue. Messages float over mobile phones and e-mails offering all kinds of ‘cures’ or ‘treatments’. People are rushing out to buy full-sleeved clothes for children, following the Punjab government orders that these must be worn at all schools for one month during which uniforms will be abandoned. Official teams with giant canisters of insecticide roam city streets spraying homes and public areas. Even the Chief Minister himself is reported to have visited houses to personally oversee the spraying activity.

But sadly, none of these measures appear to be working very well. The numbers of cases in Punjab have risen to at least 9,402, and almost all of them are in Lahore. The dengue epidemic has also spread to Karachi and other parts of the country. One of the issues is that while international experts, including the visiting Sri Lankan team, say that fatalities are rare during outbreaks of dengue, but an unusually high number seem to be occurring in our case. It is this issue that needs to be looked at rather than focusing only on the frantic activity involving fumigation and school inspections that are currently taking place.

Questions are being raised by some doctors over the methods being used to diagnose the illness and the treatments being offered. There has already been an outcry over the alleged use of an experimental drug at a government hospital in Lahore.

The biggest problem of all is the degree of public panic that has been created. The media has played a part in this; the government itself has not always acted wisely. Calming this panic could do a great deal to help us manage the dengue problem more rationally and offer people ways that can enable them to stay safe without completely disrupting life. For now, it is this we need to focus on. At the same time planning must begin to prevent a similar situation next year and over the following period given that dengue seems likely to stay with us for some time with the striped mosquito having made Pakistan one of its homes.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2011.