Pakistan

Dengue — an epidemic?

Today dengue fever is our chief health concern. Tomorrow, it could be a far deadlier disease.

Editorial October 30, 2010

The outbreak of dengue fever in the country is now approaching an epidemic. With 5,200 positive cases of dengue, the government has been shamefully slow in responding to the problem. Rather than hurriedly taking curative and preventive measures, it is playing down the threat and making excuses. Ministry of Health Director General Dr Rashid Jooma, rather than explaining what measures he was taking to deal with dengue, rationalised that Pakistan is in a better position than Sri Lanka, which has 20,000 cases of dengue every year.

The outbreak of dengue could have been easily prevented. Regular fumigation, earmarking funds to tackle the problem and public awareness could have at least led to a significant drop in the number of dengue cases.

For next summer, it is vital that health authorities take preventive rather than reactive measures. Right now, though, the government needs to get its act together. Funds need to be made available on an emergency basis and there needs to be coordination between government hospitals across the provinces as well as between public and private hospitals.

Here is a truly frightening thought: if the government has shown itself to be completely incapable of tackling dengue, how unprepared is it for other, more serious diseases? In the last decade, new diseases like mad cow and Sars have frightened the world into action. Malaria is still an epidemic that poor countries are unable to tackle. Aids continues to ravage the world. Does Pakistan have a plan in place to deal with these epidemics? Given its inability to foresee and take measures to prevent the dengue outbreak, it has become clear that public health is not a priority for the government. Today dengue fever is our chief health concern. Tomorrow, it could be a far deadlier disease.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2010.

COMMENTS (1)

Asmat Jamal | 13 years ago | Reply Dengue Fever At A Glance Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes. Symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue fever. Dengue is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics. Outbreaks have occurred recently in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Central America. Because dengue fever is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat it. For typical dengue fever, the treatment is purely concerned with relief of the symptoms (symptomatic). The acute phase of the illness with fever and myalgias lasts about one to two weeks. Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a specific syndrome that tends to affect children under 10 years of age. It causes abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding), and circulatory collapse (shock). The prevention of dengue fever requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue. There is currently no vaccine available for dengue fever.

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