Rawalpindi:The population in this region of the country including the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi may face an outbreak of dengue fever in the coming days as the teams of District Health Authority Rawalpindi have been finding larvae of dengue fever vector in abundance during indoor and outdoor surveillance.
Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday has revealed that as many as 141 out of 189 union councils in the district are having Breteau Index above three means the larvae of ‘aedes aegypti’, the vector that causes dengue fever, have been found in over three per cent of the houses checked in these UCs.
Of these 141 UCs, 79 UCs have been found with Breteau Index between three and seven means larvae of dengue fever vector is being found from three to seven per cent of the houses while 34 UCs are with BI between seven and 10 means seven to 10 per cent of the houses checked in these 34 UCs are having larvae of dengue vector. The more alarming is the fact that the teams of DHA have found 28 of 141 UCs with BI above 10 means over 10 percent of the houses in 28 UCs are having larvae of dengue fever vector.
It is important to mention here that some two months back, there were only 56 unions councils having BI between three and seven while four of these UCs are with Breteau Index between seven and 10 while three UCs are having BI above 10. Studies reveal that the population of dengue fever vector fluctuates with temperature, rainfall and humidity and it is high in rainy season.
On Sunday, there are a total of 48 UCs in the district with Breteau Index below three. It is important that on June 19, this year, 134 UCs were found with BI less than three. The daily report prepared on dengue prevention and control by District Health Authority Rawalpindi on Sunday has revealed that to date, larvae of ‘aedes’ mosquitoes have been found from a total of 74392 houses and 13016 spots in the district. Data reveals that to date, a total of six individuals from Rawalpindi district have confirmed positive for dengue fever however, according to health experts, a possible outbreak of dengue fever cannot be ruled out in the coming days. It is important that confirmation of patients from a region increases the chances of spread of dengue fever.
The dengue mosquitoes, ‘aedes aegypti’ and ‘aedes albopictus’ are vectors that cause dengue fever as the female mosquitoes carry one of the four types of dengue virus from the dengue patient to the healthy person and transmit the disease.
