Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
Dengue fever rise belies insecticide spray claims
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=27649
All thanks to International to share Public Health Informations
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Despite continuous claims by the Health Department of having conducted insecticide sprays across the city, no decline in the alarming figures of hemorrhagic fever patients has been witnessed of late.
The fact that the peculiar mosquito carrying Dengue Virus bites only during the day is all the more scary, particularly, when the mosquitoes continue to grow making it difficult to keep track if they are biting during the day or working nocturnally as they otherwise do.
?Aerial sprays must not be conducted without warning, as they may have adverse effects on human health,? according to a senior health expert at the Civil Hospital. The health department, in a meeting with the press on Saturday, claimed to have conducted sprays at different locations in the city, but when asked nobody could recall having been warned about them.
The first case of Dengue Fever was reported in Karachi in 1994. Since then the virus has persisted. The recent rains and the pathetic sanitary condition prevalent across the city have provided an ideal breeding ground for the Aedes Aegypti, the Dengue Fever mosquito, to breed.
Health experts have advised the public to make sure that their windows are properly screened against possible entry of mosquitoes through them. Bed netting only prevents mosquito bite in the night-time, which is usually malarial.
Mosquito repellents with labels claiming to contain 20 percent to 30 percent DEET as the active ingredient on exposed skin and clothing decreases the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=27649
All thanks to International to share Public Health Informations
By our correspondent
KARACHI: Despite continuous claims by the Health Department of having conducted insecticide sprays across the city, no decline in the alarming figures of hemorrhagic fever patients has been witnessed of late.
The fact that the peculiar mosquito carrying Dengue Virus bites only during the day is all the more scary, particularly, when the mosquitoes continue to grow making it difficult to keep track if they are biting during the day or working nocturnally as they otherwise do.
?Aerial sprays must not be conducted without warning, as they may have adverse effects on human health,? according to a senior health expert at the Civil Hospital. The health department, in a meeting with the press on Saturday, claimed to have conducted sprays at different locations in the city, but when asked nobody could recall having been warned about them.
The first case of Dengue Fever was reported in Karachi in 1994. Since then the virus has persisted. The recent rains and the pathetic sanitary condition prevalent across the city have provided an ideal breeding ground for the Aedes Aegypti, the Dengue Fever mosquito, to breed.
Health experts have advised the public to make sure that their windows are properly screened against possible entry of mosquitoes through them. Bed netting only prevents mosquito bite in the night-time, which is usually malarial.
Mosquito repellents with labels claiming to contain 20 percent to 30 percent DEET as the active ingredient on exposed skin and clothing decreases the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes.
