With much of the news about dengue fever focused on the Indian capital city of Delhi recently, elsewhere on the subcontinent, other areas are also seeing a dengue surge such as Pakistan.
The Express Tribune reported Tuesday that 5,237 people have tested positive for dengue fever while six deaths have been reported this year across the country.
Data from the National Institute of Health (NIH) laboratory shows the distribution of cases including: Karachi (2,203) and Rawalpindi (1,707). A health official notes, “unfortunately except for the Punjab provincial government none of the other provincial governments are taking it seriously.”
According to Pakistan Today, The Punjab government is in the midst of hectic anti dengue campaign which includes special lectures and anti-dengue awareness and spray teams hitting the streets trying to eliminate the vector.
Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease was once called called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.
Dengue fever of multiple types is found in most countries of the tropics and subtropics particularly during and after rainy season.
There are four types of dengue virus: DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4.
People get the dengue virus from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. It is not contagious from person to person.
There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).
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