IN any population that suffers from a general lack of awareness, there is always a danger of situations being misunderstood.

Unfortunately, this may be the case in what is being perceived by many, especially amongst the poorer sections of society, as a wave of the virus chikungunya sweeping across Karachi.

The figures are very high: over recent days, thousands of patients complaining of high-grade fever and body aches, the prime symptoms of chikungunya — a word from the African Makonde language that refers to the crippling arthritic effects of this virus — have visited hospitals from parts of Malir.

However, the reality might not be as grim as it sounds: as reported on Thursday, a team of public health specialists investigating the matter has identified only 127 cases as that of ‘suspected chikungunya’, with the medical superintendent of the Sindh Government Qatar General Hospital telling the media that most patients were suffering from a viral infection other than chikungunya.

According to another expert, who is leading the medical investigation team spearheaded by the government, hospitals had also erroneously reported cases of malaria and other seasonal viral fevers as chikungunya.

Samples of the genetic strain of the virus have been sent off to various laboratories in Pakistan and abroad, and until the results are received it cannot be said for sure whether or not the virus is indeed chikungunya.

However, the current situation ought to be taken as a reminder that the campaign to spread awareness about the dangers of mosquito-borne illnesses must be promoted on an urgent basis, just as the city’s hygiene and sewage realities should be drastically improved — as promised so often by those in the corridors of power.

The populace in Karachi, as well as across the country, has not yet been completely made safe against dengue, another, more dangerous, mosquito-borne illness. If another similarly transmitted virus is now in the news, clearly the cleanliness and fumigation campaigns are not working as effectively as they should be.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2016