Dengue fever outbreak affects hundreds in Karachi, Rawalpindi
Last updated on: 22 August,2019 09:42 pm
More than 1200 dengue fever cases have been reported in Sindh this year.
KARACHI/RAWALPINDI (Dunya News) – Dengue fever epidemic has started to go viral in Karachi as the result of wastage and waste water while situation in Rawalpindi is getting uncontrollable.
Dengue has claimed six lives this year so far, out of which three were females. In 2019, a total of 1,225 dengue cases have been reported in Sindh province so far, of which 1,164 were in Karachi alone. The city is worried about an increase in dengue cases due to unavailability of mosquito spray.
Experts asserted that the symptoms of dengue fever include high fever, headache, nausea, severe pain in the joints and muscles. Dengue virus cases have been on increase from August and will prevail at least since December. “There’s a lot of mosquitoes in the city because of lack of sanitation so citizens should spray pesticides in their homes and societies themselves to avoid the virus”, experts added.
On the other hand, dengue has also become uncontrollable in Rawalpindi. During a week, the number of patients brought to different hospitals in the city has exceeded 200. In view of the situation, a special team from Lahore has also arrived in Rawalpindi.
Dengue virus has been diagnosed in 80 patients which were brought to Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Hospital while 78 patients have been brought to Holy Family and 47 to the Civil Hospital of Rawalpindi.
On the instruction of the Health Department Punjab, the dengue team visited various areas and hospitals of the city. Rawalpindi is currently the worst affected by dengue virus in Punjab, officials said.
Chief Executive Officer Health expressed that they doing everything possible to prevent the virus and people should also cooperate. According to the health department, the number of dengue victims in Rawalpindi has reached 683 this month.