Dengue patients asked to visit only qualified medical practitioners

ISLAMABAD, Oct 02 (APP):Health experts on Wednesday advised the dengue patients to visit only certified medical practitioners for treatment of disease to avoid from any complication.

According to them, without receiving results of medical reports of dengue test from the authentic laboratory, patients should not consider it as confirmed dengue virus on the basis of having symptoms of fever, body aches, joint pain and vomiting.

Medical expert at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Dr Wasim Khawaja said that patients should consult to their doctor in case of having dengue like symptoms and they should not get panicky on dengue.

He said that the disease is a recoverable and patients get relief with the passage of time. He added there is no need to create any panic if someone gets dengue virus.

He said that the hospital is on alert mode for the disease and the process of blood testing of suspected dengue patients is going on in the hospital for confirmation.

He added the hospital has adequate medicines and kits for blood tests. He said that the hospital has been receiving dengue patients at its outpatient departments (OPDs) during prevailing high-risk season of mosquito-borne disease.

He added efficient hospital staff has been deployed at this ward to serve the incoming patients. He said that the symptoms of dengue are persistently high fever, rashes, headache and pain in the joints while in the acute cases the platelets number decrease drastically which could prove fatal for the patient.
He said that infants and young children may have a non-specific febrile illness with a rash as older children and adults may have either a mild febrile syndrome or the classical incapacitating disease with an abrupt onset and high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains and rash.

He said that mosquitoes breed primarily in containers like earthenware jars, metal drums and concrete cisterns used for domestic water storage, as well as discarded plastic food containers, used automobile tyres and other items that collect rain water.

Health expert Dr Sharif Astori from Federal Government Polyclinic (FGPC) hospital advised the citizens to remain vigilant to condense the spread of dengue virus. He said that dengue fever is a severe, flu-like illness that affects infants, children and adults.

He said that dengue is a mosquito-borne infection, which in recent years has become a major public health concern. He added the spread of dengue is attributed to expanding geographic distribution of the four dengue viruses and of their mosquito vectors, the most important of which is the predominantly urban species Aedes Aegypti.

He said that the rapid growth of urban population is bringing ever greater numbers of people into contact with this vector, especially in areas that are favorable for mosquito breeding like in places where household water storage is common and where solid waste disposal services are inadequate.
When contacted an official from the Ministry of National Health Services he said that the teams of the health department are active in all parts of the capital.

These teams are working in source reduction of the disease and are educating people about preventive measures they should take to combat the disease.

He said that the health workers are visiting households and covered a large population. These teams have found larvae of dengue spreading mosquito in some households.
He said that people should ensure that the breeding places of mosquitoes inside their homes and vicinity are destroyed.

He said that the virus of dengue is continuing to hit the residents of federal capital, however, the mobile teams have started activities in affected areas like fogging and spraying chemicals to destroy mosquito larvae.