As many as four more persons were declared dengue positive in the city here on Friday. According to the Provincial Dengue Surveillance Cell report, in the current week at least 17 more people were declared dengue patients, taking the number of dengue patients to 134 since January 1. It said two of the patients were still under treatment at Civil Hospital Karachi whereas one patient had been discharged from the hospital after recovery from the disease. As many as five platelets were also utilised for these dengue patients. All the dengue patients were from Karachi and no such case has been reported from the interior of Sindh so far, the cell further pointed out. The reports said that the government had finalised its preparations towards controlling the disease. The doctors have advised the people to get anti-mosquito spray, close windows from mosquitoes could enter home and cover all food items and cover water pots to avoid the disease. Dengue fever is increasingly becoming an epidemic in the country. Due to high cost of treatment, the disease spread more rapidly in 2011 than in previous years. It has attracted the attention of the government, especially the Punjab government since it spread in the Punjab province. In 2011, it killed over 300 people and over 14,000 were infected by this mosquito-borne disease. Majority of the people infected were from Lahore. For countering this fast spreading disease, the Punjab government is working to increase public awareness on the dengue outbreak. In an awareness drive, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself arrived at local universities to hand out pamphlets on dengue fever and prevention. A seminar was also held in Hyderabad by the local authorities. Various other awareness programs were also in colleges and schools and teachers were urged to educate students about this disease.
