The urban pockets of Punjab besides Lahore may get severely hit by the menace of dengue next year, experts fear. Faisalabad is being considered more vulnerable because it stood second to Lahore in terms of reported dengue cases. According to dengue experts, the focus of disease would shift from Lahore because of medical and administrative reasons, as large-scale arrangements were made to curb the epidemic while other cities had made no such attempts. Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Dr Javed Akram, while talking to Pakistan Today, claimed that the cities less hit this year would face more of the epidemic next year.
He said this year the virus hit mainly Lahore and its people were getting immune to it. He predicted that the number of cases would be lower next year. However, things could be worse elsewhere as the virus had moved to other cities where people had not yet acquired immunity, he added. Describing the phenomenon in medical terms, he said once a person was infected with one of the four kinds of dengue virus, the patient’s body developed antibodies to fight the virus, totally immunising him to that specific kind and giving temporary immunity for the remaining three. He said cities such as Faisalabad and Rawalpindi could become the next target of the epidemic. He said the virus could be controlled by launching mosquito control programmes.
Institute of Public Health Assistant Professor Dr Shahid endorsed the views of Dr Javed, however he believed that the panic caused by dengue had exaggerated the actual scale of the epidemic.
He said tertiary healthcare facilities should improve diagnosis for complications such as plasma leakage and the dengue shock syndrome. He said Lahore had better healthcare system in the province yet haphazardness and mismanagement were evident. He said all the other cities of Punjab had far less medical facilities which could worsen the situation there next year. Health Information Management System Director Dr Anwar Janjua said that 826 dengue patients and four deaths were reported in Faisalabad during the current year. He said in Multan and Rawalpindi, there were 162 and 431 reported cases respectively. However, independent sources said that in Faisalabad alone around 1,500 dengue patients were reported with 10 deaths caused by dengue. Dr. Abdul Rauf, executive district officer (Health) at Faisabalad said there was a lack of human resource in the district to carry out vector surveillance and eradication operations. He claimed to have 32 fogging machines and 190 spray pumps and a sufficient amount of insecticidal sprays Deltamatherine and Fanetheon. However he added that there were only 60 employees available for all the eight towns of Faisalabad city.
