PU establishes dengue research group

The Punjab University (PU) on Thursday established a dengue research group, consisting of researchers, for providing accurate information about diagnosis, preventive and curative measures and other issues regarding dengue fever. The experts said it was not beyond the possibility that it could be a result of “bio-warfare from a world power”. They opposed the Sri Lankan experts on the point that there was no need of spray in winter to curb dengue mosquito and maintained that Pakistan had a different environment than Sri Lanka.
Dr Saeed Akhtar said dengue became inactive below 23 degrees Celsius and stopped seeding below 20 degrees Celsius. Stressing the need of collaboration between Sri Lankan and local experts, he said mutual cooperation would provide an opportunity to extract maximum information from Sri Lankan team. He said two-credit hour compulsory course on ‘arboviruses’ (arthropods which are responsible for spreading diseases) should be included in MBBS curriculum. He said there was a dire need of in-depth research to identify habitats of dengue mosquito.
PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran presided over a meeting in this regard in Centre for Undergraduate Studies committee room on Thursday. PU Syndicate member and MPA Khawaja Imran Nazir, PU Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Akhtar, Centre for Applied Molecular Biology (CAMB) Director Dr Tayyab Hasnain, Dr Shahida Hasnain, Dr Saeed Akhtar, Dr Muhammad Idrees Khan, microbiologists and other researchers attended the meeting.
Dr Muhammad Idrees Khan said there was enough indigenous technology which could diagnose either a patient was a victim of dengue or not. He said research should also be done on whether papaya juice or other local prescriptions had required effects or not. He said there were four types of dengue virus and research must be carried out on all types. Imran Nazir said the Punjab government had been spending 19 out of 24 hours to provided maximum facilities in this regard and wanted cooperation of PU researchers to curb dengue. He said a meeting of PU researchers with Sri Lankan experts would be arranged very shortly.
Govt falling short on effective IRS: The Punjab government is violating the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of conducting timely Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) in an area where a patient was diagnosed with dengue or had died because of dengue, Pakistan Today has learnt. IRS has not been conducted in most of the dengue-hit areas despite the rise in the mortality rate due to dengue. According to experts, the late fumigation campaign was the major reason why dengue took on epidemic proportions.
But experts said that the mortality rate could be lowered significantly by proper management of the disease and following the SOPs devised by the concerned department which is that the IRS should be conducted in 28 houses in the vicinity of the area where a patient contracted dengue.
Although, government officials claim to have conducted IRS wherever a patient has been reported, the residents of areas, where dengue has broken out, contradict this. The government has not been able to report all the deaths due to dengue in a timely manner, causing delay in the conduction of IRS in a timely manner. A resident of Madina Colony, Ahsan Jamshed Khan said that there had been around six deaths due to dengue and each house had dengue patients in the area but IRS was not conducted there until after two days of the last death.
Punjab Agriculture Secretary Arif Nadeem admitted that there was a lapse in reaching every dengue-affected house and that the SOP was not being followed without glitches. He said that due to the limited capacity of the government, shortening the SOP recommended vicinity of the area to conduct IRS was under consideration and instead of 28 houses in the neighborhood of a dengue patient; only houses within 100 yards around the patient’s house could be sprayed. The health department reported around 9,000 dengue patients, whereas, the original number was far larger than reported and despite calling 100 foggers from Germany to assist fogging and spraying operations, the government still lacks the ability to conduct IRS in all the dengue-hit areas.