Dengue fever crisis in Pakistan deepens as deaths toll swells

Death toll from an epidemic of dengue fever, which has gripped Pakistan's most populous and eastern province of Punjab, has now reached 62 as another man died on Thursday, health officials and local media reported. The fever, which has also been reported in other parts of the country, has infected nearly 8,000 in the last two months, they said. Till Thursday, 100,000 people have rushed to government and private hospitals in Lahore for medical test as every citizen is now wanting to get doctors' advice. Residents say that 50 percent people now avoid visiting parks and picnic spots in Lahore. The Education Ministry in Punjab ordered change of school uniform, making it obligatory for all school-going children to wear full-sleeves shirts and pants. Provincial Education Minister Mujtaba Shuja also said that the government had completed around 80 percent of the fumigation drive at educational institutions. The minister warned private schools that they would be closed if they failed to fumigate their premises. The schools have also been asked not to hold any sports activities during evening timings. The government had closed all schools, colleges and universities in Lahore for 10 days, while they are fumigated and sprayed as part of dengue prevention measures ordered by the provincial chief minister. Shuja added that it is not possible to eradicate dengue in one year and said that information about dengue virus will now be included in the school curriculum. In order to encourage the people to take precautionary measures, the Chief Minister of Punjab province, Shehbaz Sharif, Thursday visited several houses and himself sprayed inside the houses. There have also been reports of dengue in southern Sindh Province, with the provincial Dengue Surveillance Cell reporting over 200 cases this year, most of them in Karachi. Traders selling fake dengue medicines have had cases registered against them and levels of public panic are high, according to media reports, despite reassurances from medical experts that dengue is only rarely fatal. The dengue epidemic has hit hard this year in Punjab, especially Lahore. There have been periodic outbreaks of dengue since 2006. But this time the panic triggered by the disease has disrupted lives. A team of Sri Lankan experts called in by the Punjab government has been collecting water samples across Lahore and emphasized the priority right now was to control dengue deaths. Several sports events including the national T20 cricket series have been shifted from Lahore to the southern port city of Karachi over dengue fear as all national players are playing from their regional teams in the championship. According to the World Health Organization, dengue fever is spread by the bite of the striped Aedes Aegypti mosquito. Outbreaks of the disease occur typically in tropical and sub- tropical areas of the world. Symptoms range from a mild fever to an incapacitating high fever with severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pain, and a rash. Dengue can be caused by four different but related strains of dengue virus. If a person has had one virus, there can be a repeat occurrence of dengue if a different strain is involved subsequently. Rarely people suffering from dengue bleed from the nose, gums or skin, an indication of the potentially fatal dengue haemorrhagic fever. There are no specific medicines to cure dengue.