LAHORE: Punjab has reported 374 dengue fever cases in the province during the last 24 hours.
The death toll by dengue fever this year in Punjab has reached to 21, and no death by the mosquito-borne disease reported in the last 24 hours, Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab, Imran Sikandar Baloch said.
Health Secretary said that 374 dengue fever cases were reported in the province in last 24 hours. “Most of the dengue cases, 257, were reported in Lahore,” top health official said.
“Overall 1651 dengue fever patients have been admitted in hospitals across Punjab,” health secretary said.
In Lahore 916 patients of the mosquito-borne disease have been admitted in hospitals, the secretary further said.
The health secretary has announced to step up activities to save the citizens from dengue fever.
It is to be mentioned here that dengue fever claimed three more lives in Islamabad during the past 24 hours, lifting the capital’s death toll from the mosquito-borne disease this year to nine.
Typically, people infected with the dengue virus are asymptomatic (80%) or have only mild symptoms such as an uncomplicated fever. Others have more severe illness (5%), and in a small proportion it is life-threatening. The incubation period (time between exposure and onset of symptoms) ranges from 3 to 14 days, but most often it is 4 to 7 days.
Therefore, travelers returning from endemic areas are unlikely to have dengue fever if symptoms start more than 14 days after arriving home. Children often experience symptoms similar to those of the common cold and gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea) and have a greater risk of severe complications, though initial symptoms are generally mild but include high fever.
