Hard hit: Dengue mosquitoes continue to bite

ISLAMABAD:

As the temperature drops, dengue fever cases rise in Rawalpindi. On Wednesday, 81 patients tested positive for dengue, taking the total number to 2,100 so far.

Of these, 1,200 were reported from Rawal Town alone, the urban commercial and residential areas located in the heart of the city.

Meanwhile, the disease has so far claimed 10 lives in the city, of them four were local residents and six from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

An official of district health department told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that the sharp drop in day and night temperatures since last week has not yet affected the activities of dengue mosquitoes.

All possible interventions had been put in place to control the disease, but that did not prove effective, he said.

“After Muharram holidays, a surge was witnessed in dengue fever patients, as on an average 80 to 83 cases were being reported every day,” he said.

After rains, the clear skies provided a favourable environment to dengue mosquitoes, to continue infecting people, said the official. “Hopefully, in the beginning of November, there will be a drop in number of dengue cases in the city,” said the official.

Dengue cases started emerging in the city since the beginning of the year, but the situation was not taken seriously. It has turned out to be a massive outbreak at the end of the year, as Rawalpindi reported highest number of cases in Punjab this year, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2015.