KARACHI, Dec 30: The dengue fever outbreak remained the deadliest of all health ailments reported in 2006,. The mosquito-borne disease claimed 52 lives across the country, 46 of them in Karachi alone. Dengue fever was first reported in April, but hit with full force in September when the city’s hospitals began receiving more than a hundred cases daily.

The provincial and city authorities failed to realise the situation’s gravity and remained content with sending reports of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) to the National Institute of Health Islamabad for diagnosis. Meanwhile 18 patients died of dengue because NIH Islamabad took many weeks for diagnosis.

This led to a hue and cry from the public, and the provincial and city authorities finally made arrangements for blood testing and screening in Karachi. The situation became so bleak that there was an acute shortage of platelet kits and the kits were imported on an emergency basis.The officials admitted they were not prepared to deal with such an epidemic. “We never imagined the epidemic could reach such alarming proportions,” a senior official of the Sindh health department said.

Almost 5,000 cases of suspected VHF and DHF were reported in Karachi, of which around 1,600 were confirmed DHF cases. The health authorities and civic agencies jointly tried to counter dengue with medical facilities available and fumigation drives, but it was only winter that actually came to citizens’ rescue.

The falling temperatures killed dengue carrying mosquitoes and saved more citizens from falling victim. Sadly, once the epidemic disappeared, the health officials closed its dengue cell while the municipal authorities stopped their much-publicised fumigation campaigns. Medical experts fear the situation could worsen next year if effective measures are not taken. They say winter has killed many not all of the mosquitoes. The remaining mosquitoes can lay eggs and their eggs can hibernate for nine months.

Once, winter is over, the lethal vector would be ready to bite -- and kill -- its human targets. “It is not over yet,” said Dr Tahir Shamsi, a senior haematologist, “We’ll have to eradicate it by hitting all the places where this mosquito is in hibernation.”

Also in 2006, the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) reported 11 polio cases, most of which were the Polio-3 type. The EPI officials said 10 of the 11 cases were from outside Sindh.

These children’s parents had migrated from Balochistan and other areas to Sindh. Last year, there were five polio cases, all of Type-1 polio. The officials said since the previous cases pertained to Type-1, they had used the monovalent vaccine. However, after the emergence of Type-3 polio, the next nine rounds would feature trivalent vaccine to counter the Type-3 polio.

A major conference was organised in Karachi under the auspices of Infection Control Society.

The participants were informed that an alarming 33 percent increase had been noticed in infection-related diseases across the country. The experts pointed to the alarming increase in hepatitis B and C and HIV/AIDS cases and said defective blood screening was the main culprit responsible for the increase.