Dengue danger

Despite all the fanfare we heard through the winter about the measures being taken by the Punjab government to ensure Lahore and other cities in the province did not suffer the kind of outbreak of dengue which crippled many lives last year, it is now beginning to see all the claims made may be nothing more than rhetoric. At conferences and seminars held in Lahore, Faisalabad and other places, experts are warning that the dengue outbreak this year could be even worse than in 2011. Panic levels are beginning to rise as thoughts go back to the hundreds of deaths the virus caused last year. The figure stood officially at around 300 – but many suspect it could in real terms have been considerably higher with many deaths ‘covered up’ at hospitals and others which occurred at home possibly not reported.

We hear now that dozens of patients apparently infected with dengue have begun to pay visits to hospitals and clinics. There have been rumours of at least one death. Senior doctors and government officials deny that the dengue nightmare is beginning all over again, but few believe their accounts. What is most frightening is the warning by experts that the death toll could be higher than ever before because of the far larger population f previously infected people. It is an established fact that the disease hits harder the second time round. There had also been published data about new and potentially more dangerous serotypes of the virus emerging, while some accounts state there are more mosquitoes than ever before which carry the virus. We are also told the dengue mosquito can breed in both stagnant and clean water and does not bite only at dusk and dawn. This is in contrast to previous information. It is also becoming clear that the mass spraying campaign may not have worked and other measures may have been just as ineffective, leaving Lahore open to the possibility of yet another year where th fear of mosquitoes dominates lives and dictates all actions.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2012.