LAHORE: Dengue virus is not only a medical but also a social problem, for which, collective efforts are required to overcome the virus. This was stated by Post Graduate Medical Institute (PGMI/LGH) Principal Prof Dr Muhammad Al-freed Zafar and Executive Director Punjab Institute of Neuro-sciences (PINS) Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood while launching a self-cleaning campaign from their offices here on Saturday to mark the anti-dengue day.
They said the community would have to use all its energies to eradicate dengue mosquito breeding while fulfilling its responsibilities as sanitation and cleanliness was the real enemy of dengue so environment around should be kept clean.
They said that responsibilities of doctors, paramedics regarding dengue started when the patient was brought to the hospital. They said that dengue problem would be resolved only through collective efforts. MS LGH Dr Khalid Bin Aslam distributed pamphlets on dengue fever symptoms and precautions among the patients and their relatives in Emergency and OPD of the hospital. He appealed to the people to play their role for the eradication of dengue along with implementation of coronavirus SOPs to prove to be a responsible citizens.
Assistant Professor Medicine Dr Muhammad Maqsood said in his conversation that initial symptoms of dengue include high fever, severe pain in body and feeling of weakness, pain in legs and joints and headache. These include changes in taste, redness of face, or pinking of certain parts of the body and a cold, he added. He said that in this fever, the pain in joints and muscles of a patient becomes so severe that he feels his bones breaking, hence it is also called ‘break bone fever’.
Dr Maqsood said the number of platelets in a person was 1.5 million to 4.5 million per micro liter of blood, which could be reduced from 90,000 to 100,000 in seasonal fever, while in the case of dengue virus, the number of platelets was significantly reduced to about 20,000 or so. He pointed out that the most common victims of dengue were people with weak immune system while dengue was caused by the bite of a specific female mosquito.
The Principal PGMI/AMC said that waste materials should not be allowed to accumulate on the roof tops of houses or accumulate rainwater to check the breeding of dengue mosquitoes. He said that ignoring the precautionary measures were not safe for anyone. ED PINS Prof Mahmood said that dengue mosquito breeds very fast and larva after becoming a mosquito, it was difficult to control it. In order to eradicate this virus, never allow water to gather in the neglected places which were the main reason for breeding of dengue mosquitoes, he added. Prof Al-freed urged the doctors and other staff to ensure hygiene measures in the LGH in accordance with the dengue SOPs so that mosquito breeding could not take place.