Epidemic (human) Event icon
Event title

Pakistan - Pakistan dengue numbers rise as hospital bed shortages are reported

Event category

Biological origin - Epidemic (human)

Event date (UTC)

2021-10-10 17:49:55

Last update (UTC)

2021-12-04 07:32:49

Severity

High

Latitude

31.54972

Longitude

74.34361

Area range

Multiple states / regions wide event

Address/Affected area(s)

-

Officials in Pakistan are reporting a continued increase in dengue fever cases, with the numbers in the thousands, and experts warn the next coming weeks will be critical. The number of dengue cases in the capital city of Islamabad has topped 1,000, including five deaths. A massive anti-dengue virus campaign has been launched in Islamabad to deal with the alarmingly high rate of cases being reported in the city. In Punjab, more than 300 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the dengue tally there to 2,500, with nearly half from Lahore. Major hospitals in Lahore are full of dengue patients, includes Ganga Ram Hospital, Jinnah Hospital, and Mayo Hospital. There is no space for dengue patients in five private hospitals as well. The beds reserved for coronavirus patients in Punjab’s hospitals are being used to treat dengue virus patients. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, another 200 cases were reported, bringing the total in this area to 2,660, including four deaths. 99 cases were reported in Peshawar district on Saturday. This is prompted complaints from health officials saying that the people’s failure to take precautionary measures is causing the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. Hospitals in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are refusing to take in more dengue virus patients as they run out of beds.

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Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by the bite of an infected mosquito. There are four closely related but antigenically different serotypes of the virus that can cause dengue (DEN1, DEN 2, DEN 3, DEN 4). Dengue Fever (DF) – marked by an onset of sudden high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and pain in muscles and joints. Some may also have a rash and varying degree of bleeding from various parts of the body (including nose, mouth and gums or skin bruising).Dengue has a wide spectrum of infection outcome (asymptomatic to symptomatic). Symptomatic illness can vary from dengue fever (DF) to the more serious dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF).

Aedes aegypti merchandise
Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) – is a more severe form, seen only in a small proportion of those infected. DHF is a stereotypic illness characterized by 3 phases; febrile phase with high continuous fever usually lasting for less than 7 days; critical phase (plasma leaking) lasting 1-2 days usually apparent when fever comes down, leading to shock if not detected and treated early; convalescence phase lasting 2-5 days with improvement of appetite, bradycardia (slow heart rate), convalescent rash (white patches in red background), often accompanied by generalized itching (more intense in palms and soles), and diuresis (increase urine output). Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS) — Shock syndrome is a dangerous complication of dengue infection and is associated with high mortality. Severe dengue occurs as a result of secondary infection with a different virus serotype. Increased vascular permeability, together with myocardial dysfunction and dehydration, contribute to the development of shock, with resultant multiorgan failure.

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