Karachi on high alert for mosquito-borne dengue fever Hospitals in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi have seen a high alert of mosquito-borne dengue fever, which killed at least 17 people in the current spell disease since last four months.The hospitals have been unable to detect the reasons of the spreading disease, while the authorities have been unable to control it. More and more cases of viral fever have been ultimately diagnosed as fevered with dengue,
health officials said recently. Despite continuous claims by the Health
Department of having conducted insecticide sprays across the city, no decline in the alarming figures of hemorrhagic fever patients has been witnessed of late.In Karachi's hospitals, about 250 people have been tested positive for the disease, which was caused by a specific type of mosquito that bites only during daytime, especially during sunrise and sunset,
according to reports.According to the Pakistan Medical Association officials, there were hardly any laboratory facilities in Karachi to diagnose dengue fever at its initial stage. Only one hospital in the city of more than 14 million has such facilities, which are very costly for a common man.Though it has been assessed that the delay in diagnosis could prove fatal for the patients, who could also bleed to death in severe cases of dengue fever, doctors said that
mosquitoes are the main carriers of the virus, which can spread very fast if extreme care is not taken while handling the patients.The number of mosquitoes has risen to alarming levels in Karachi after the recent monsoon rains, which had left pools of stagnant water in every neighbourhood of the city. Still the filth around is the home for these mosquitoes.Though the Governor of Sindh has called for emergency measures to cope with Dengue Fever and directed the health department to improve the provision of kits used in the treatment, nothing seemed to be moving on."Aerial sprays must not be conducted without warning, as they may have adverse effects on human health," according to a senior health expert at the Civil Hospital. The health department claimed to have conducted sprays at different locations in the city, but when asked nobody could recall having been warned about them.The fact that the peculiar mosquito carrying Dengue Virus bites only during the day is all the more scary, particularly, when the mosquitoes continue to grow making it difficult to keep track if they are biting during the day or working nocturnally as they otherwise do.Health experts have advised the public to make sure that their windows are properly screened against possible entry of mosquitoes through them. Bed netting only prevents mosquito bite in the nighttime, which is usually malarial.An accelerated effort to carry out a drive for public awareness and spray is pertinent besides other preventive steps. People must know that use of anti-biotic in this fever is harmful.
More reviews about the Daily Jang