ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: A patient has tested positive for dengue virus at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), it has been learnt.
Dengue fever is one of the common mosquito-borne diseases and is an acute viral infection characterised by chills and sweating.
“Three suspected patients were admitted to Pims a few days back and one of them has tested positive while reports of the two others are still awaited,” Pims Executive Director Prof Mehmood Jamal told Dawn on Monday.
He said it was the first case reported in the capital city; however, preventive measures were in place in the hospital.
Prof Jamal said dengue fever symp toms were common with the patient suffering from severe headache, eye pain, severe dizziness and loss of appetite.
In reply to a question, Prof Jamal said the virus was contracted from the bite of a mosquito that previously had bitten an infected person.
The mosquito flourishes during rainy seasons but can also breed in water-filled flower pots, plastic bags and cans round the year.
He said a person can contract the disease even from a single mosquito bite, adding, however, the virus was not contagious and cannot spread directly from person to person.
“The pathway of the disease is person to-mosquito to another person,” he added.
He said the patient who had been tested positive was under observation.
He said as the dengue fever was caused by a virus, there was no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat it.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Aamir Ahmed Ali told this reporter that a fumigation campaign had been launched in the urban and rural areas of the capital.
He said the focus of the district health department would remain on containing the virus. “The citizens should stay away from stagnant water ponds, old tyres, trash cans and flower pots which are home to mosquitoes,” he said.
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