PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has recruited 41 entomologists on regular basis to check dengue transmission in the province by containing the production of the mosquitoes carrying and spreading the virus.

Eighteen entomologists are already working in the department on ad hoc basis, health officials told Dawn.

The officials said the regular recruitment of entomologists would ensure the sustainable control of dengue outbreaks.

They said the department had already deployed four ad hoc entomologists in Peshawar district, which was worst hit by dengue fever in the province.

The development comes amid high dengue incidence in the province.

Seventy-seven more people test positive for fever in province

On Saturday, 77 more residents tested positive for dengue increasing the province’s tally of the fever to 9,969 since its outbreak three months ago.

Of them, 50 were reported in Peshawar, according to a report of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System of the health department.

A total of 107 patients recovered from the fever during the last 24 hours in the province, while the active cases totalled 169.

The provincial capital has so far recorded 52.74 per cent of the province’s dengue cases i.e. 5,258.

Adil Shah, a Peshawar-based entomologist working with the health department, told Dawn that dengue control could be possible only if it was properly planned in March.

He said the initial dengue cases should be isolated as the mosquitoes took the virus by biting infected person before transmitting it to others.

The expert said patients should be given impregnated bed nets for protection from mosquito bites.

He said the quick response to the first two to five cases could have averted the current dengue outbreak.

“The first 90 dengue cases reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, which were worst hit by the fever in the country. Previously, there’s no local infection, but as the mosquito population grew, the infection spread fast,” he said.

Mr Adil said the entomologist’s intervention would ensure indoor and outdoor larva surveillance for the elimination of puddles, fogging, and use of larvicides.

He said the health department was likely to establish a full-fledged setup for dengue control and strengthen entomologists by giving them resources such as transports and human resources.

“The dengue-related situation in the coming years will be totally different from the past,” he said. The expert said the dropping mercury would cause the dengue cases to decline as most mosquitoes didn’t survive at the temperature below 12 Celsius.

“The dengue virus thrives in clean water often stored in open pots and drums, so we [authorities] should ensure that the people get regular water supply to remove the need for its storage,” he said.

Mr Adil said Peshawar had mosquitoes in large numbers, so it recorded more dengue cases compared with other districts.

Meanwhile, the health officials said a lack of coordination among government departments was affecting the campaign against dengue.

They told Dawn that the people required regular water and electric supply, and clean environment, which was not the domain of the health department.

The officials said the people couldn’t be completely blamed for water storage, which was the main source of mosquito breeding, and that coordination among the relevant departments was a precondition for the elimination of mosquitoes.

They said the campaign against dengue in the province was affected due to involvement of most health workers in the activities and campaigns against novel coronavirus and measles.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2021