Dengue gaining roots in KP as Mansehra mostly affected with 506 cases

PESHAWAR, Oct 25 (APP): As the outbreak of the dengue fever has gained alarming proportion across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and so far more than 1460 patients affected with dengue virus in the province and District Mansehra is the most affected area where so far 506 cases has been reported.
Besides Mansehra and Peshawar the dengue virus cases are also gripping other areas of the province and despite increase in the cases so far no mechanism was formulated by the concerned authorities to monitor and counter such a disaster which is pestering the people at large.
Dengue virus gaining roots in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and so far 1, 460 cases have been reported from all the three teaching hospital comprising Lady Ready, Khyber Teaching and Hayatabad Medical Complex Hospitals.
It is also confirmed that with each passing day, an increase in the Dengue affected patience has been reported.
In an overall view so far in District Mansehra 506 patients were reported with dengue virus. In Abbottabad 449 patients, Malakand 363, Peshawar (90) and Swat 28 were reported with dengue virus.
When Director Dengue KP Dr. Khalid was contacted he informed that there are more than 1500 cases so far reported and among them 1397 has been discharged from various hospitals of the province. He said in 2013 there were 16000 cases out of which 56 deaths were reported but now the situation has been improved as only 1460 cases have been reported with no death report so far, he added.
A doctor of the Teaching hospital on the condition of anonymity told APP that the mosquito contain dengue virus is usually non affective in cold weather and hopefully with the cold waves, snow on the hills top, the ratio of the cases with dengue virus will certainly be decreased due to low impact of the dengue mosquito in cold weather.
The doctor also suggested the people to immediately report to their concerned doctors or hospitals so that appropriate measures could be taken in time. He said those reported with dengue virus should take more water, juices, milk, fruits and soup while use of apple juice and lemon juices would up boost the resistance power of the dengue affected patients.
“If the spreading of dengue virus is not controlled in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the concerned health directorate did not take it seriously more cases would be reported,” he added.
The govt, he said, should go far a spray even in outside areas of Peshawar. Many people coming from the suburban villages have confirmed that there is no appropriate measure taken by the government like anti-mosquito spraying.
Dengue virus was not included in the terms of taking it seriously which resulted in the outbreak of dengue virus cases even in the Mansehera and other parts of the province, he added.
It is not appropriate to rely on media campaign only rather to see the
root cause of the dengue and should mobilize its team just outside of Peshawar and any of the District Headquarters, he said. He said there was a need for effective community based drive to clear all water accumulations in the localities.
In view of the reported cases in different part of the province the
residents do not see any directed movement by the authorities concerned to combat the increasing threats of dengue virus.
After the 18th Amendment the three main national programs malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS have been devolved to the provinces. Resultantly, the monitoring system regarding these diseases has become non-operational as far as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is concerned. An efforts being made to contact Secretary Health and Minister Health KP for their views on spreading of dengue virus in KP, but they were not available for comments.