Dengue is down, this year too

LAHORE: A virologist of the Punjab University (PU), Dr Idrees Khan, sees no danger of a dengue fever outbreak this year too despite an increase in breeding of mosquitoes.

“Out of the 50 samples received in the laboratories of PU Centre for Excellence in Molecular Biology, not a single one was found positive,” said Dr Khan at a seminar on dengue awareness and preventive measures by the PU Dengue Research Group (DRG) at Al Raazi Hall on Wednesday.

“Last year, the World Health Organization and SIMS (Services Institute of Medical Sciences) had sent five samples of suspected dengue patients, but no sample was found positive,” Dr Khan said.

“The PU team had intimated the Punjab government last year in time which took steps accordingly to avoid the outbreak. This year too there is no likelihood of dengue outbreak.”

DRG Chairman Prof Dr Saeed Akhter gave a presentation about dengue prevention measures and said that offices and house environment should particularly be kept dry. He also commended efforts by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to control dengue fever.

PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran appealed to the media to report the detection of dengue larvae after verification.

“All the larvae of mosquitoes do not belong to Aedis Ageptie and media should not create panic and play responsible role in this regard,” he said.

PU Faculty of Life Sciences Dean Prof Dr Naeem Khan, Department of Zoology Chairman Dr Javed Iqbal Qazi, Chief Minister’s monitoring force head Mubaraka, Deputy District Officer (health) Dr Muhammad Iqbal and others also attended the seminar.