An overview of dengue fever in Pakistan

Dengue is a viral disease caused by bite of infected mosquitoes. The symptoms of this disease are headaches, pain behind eyes, nausea, flu, muscle pains, rash and swollen glands, etc. It can also develop into lethal disease known as severe dengue. The initial report of dengue fever in Pakistan was in 1994. It was seen sudden rise in cases of dengue fever. Dengue fever cases were recorded from published data from 2013 to August 2018 in different geographic regions of Pakistan. A total of 64 047 cases of dengue fever have been reported from all over Pakistan from period 2013 to August 2018. The prevalence of disease was varied in different areas of Pakistan: Fata is 1%, Islamabad 5%, AJK 0%, Punjab 19%, Sindh 22%, KPK 53% and Baluchistan 0%. Mosquito breeding sites and living in tropical areas or traveling within these areas may cause risk factor of this disease. The first dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia was recorded in several countries from 2015 to 2016. This was used for humans living in endemic areas. The WHO mentioned that countries should consider introducing of the dengue vaccine Dengvaxia only in areas where epidemiological data specify a high rate of disease.