A total number of 181 cases of dengue fever have been reported so far in Punjab, out of which 147 cases were reported in Lahore alone. Punjab Health Services Director General Dr Aslam Chaudhry said this while addressing a seminar on "Dengue fever" held at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Thursday.
He said in Lahore most of the cases had been reported from areas of Kot Khwaja Saeed, Misri Shah, Shadbagh, Ghoray Shah, Chah Mirah, Badami Bagh, Shahdara, Sheranwala Gate, localities along Bund Road, Gulshan-e-Ravi and Multan Road. He said the facilities for diagnosis and treatment of dengue virus were available in all the public sector hospitals free of cost.
He also said that dengue fever, if treated timely, was not a fatal disease, and the mortality rate among patients of dengue fever had been less than one-percent compared to 10 percent in case of malaria and tuberculosis. "The principal symptoms of dengue are high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pains - severe pain gives it the name break-bone fever and rash.
The dengue rash is characteristically bright red and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea," he added. "The sooner an affected person consults a physician, the better the chances of his or her recovery," he said.
He said: "People, who suspect they have dengue should use peracetamol, but avoid those containing aspirin. They should also take rest, drink plenty of fluids and consult a physician," he said. However, the situation was totally under control and there was no need to get panicked, he said.
UHS vice chancellor Professor Malik Hussain Mubbashar told the gathering that the first case of dengue fever was reported in the United States in 1780. A global pandemic began in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and by 1975, dengue haemorrhage fever (DHF) had become a leading cause of death among many children in many countries in that region. He further said that by the late 1990s, dengue was the most important mosquito-borne disease, affecting humans after malaria.
Health Services Director Dr Ziaur Rahman said that undetected or not-properly-treated dengue might aggravate and become the dengue haemorrhage fever (DHF) that could be fatal. But with good medical management, the mortality rate could be reduced to less than one percent, he added.
The DHF could be characterised by a fever that lasted two to seven days, with general signs and symptoms that could occur with many other illnesses like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and headache, he added. Plastic water container, buckets, used automobile tyres, pet and animal watering containers and vases with fresh flowers, indoor plants could be the best breeding places for "aedes aegypti," warned Dr Rahman. The risk of dengue would minimise with the decrease in temperature, he said.
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