472 suspected cases of Chikungunya in Gwadar
472 suspected cases of Chikungunya in Gwadar
Our Reporter
Balochistan

QUETTA: As many as 472 suspected cases of Chikungunya have been reported in Gwadar district during the past two months, confirmed the Health Department sources on Sunday.

QUETTA: As many as 472 suspected cases of Chikungunya have been reported in Gwadar district during the past two months, confirmed the Health Department sources on Sunday.

According to the details, Health Department and World Health Organization (WHO) jointly investigated the suspected Chikungunya disease outbreak at Gwadar and its surroundings.

They came up with the report that the ongoing Chikungunya Virus outbreak reported in Gwadar district of Balochistan since January 2017. They confirmed that since January 2017 till March 17th 472 suspected cases have been reported in the mentioned district and the incidence is on rise.

The Health Department has said that Chikungunya is not a life threatening infection but the major threat is associated with the transmission of dengue which is transmitted by the same Aedes vector mosquito.

“Since we had dengue outbreak last year in the same district, we may forecast dengue outbreak in the same district with possible spread to other district like Lasbela and Kech,” said the report of the Health Department, adding that WHO technical team in presence of Dr Dawood Riaz had a house to house visit and Gwadar city and Pasni town for active cases search and majority of population is affected due this disease. It said that WHO is working with the Health Balochisan to finalize Action plan to stop the expected Arboviral disease outbreaks: Short term Chikungunya and Dengue outbreak Control Plan Health Department Government of Balochistan, Control of Chikungunya and prevention of impending Dengue Outbreak in Southern districts of Balochistan.

Under this plan WHO will train the health care providers of districts Gwadar, Kech and Lasblea with community awareness sessions because this is a new disease. Expected Direct Causes of sudden surge of Chikungunya:  Adjacent to Karachi: The direct causes of the sudden surge can be assumed as Gwadar is located on coastal highway having atmospheric change and climate just similar to Karachi while population has frequent travelling between Gwadar and Karachi for trade, study, tourism and meet to relatives. This might led cause of prevalence of such cases in this short span. Majority of this disease cases have been reported last year from Karachi. 09 cases including the index case has travelling history to Karachi (origin of Chikungunya outbreak in Pakistan). Existence of Aedes and Positive Dengue cases: Dengue fever cases have been reporting from Gwadar district since 2011 and all confirmed cases had travelling history to Karachi till 2015 which shows sure existence of Aedes in district Gwadar. In 2016 first time positive cases reported from Gwadar and patients had no travelling history. Entomological survey from Malaria Control Progrm confirmed the presence of Aedes. The presence of Dengue positive cases and Aedes would be probably the most direct cause of current suspected outbreak of Chikungunya.  Poor Sanitation and Water Storage: The lack of proper sanitation/storage techniques in the town area of Gwadar where majority of cases have been reported and in combination with the warmer temperatures results in an increase in the number of vectors. Without, proper controlling of the breeding ground and the factors associated with it, the number of cases is bound to rise. In General practice, the underground water tankers are used for water storage but the community are also leaving in small houses and they store water in containers which keep in openly or in inside of home and left uncovered which increases the surface area for atmospheric exposure. As per my opinion the water stored in containers (drum) also have decreased buffering capacity due to the lack of contact with the ground thereby altering its pH and making it an easy target for breeding.

Taking notice of the outbreak of chikungunya virus in the coastal towns of Balochistan, Minister Health Mir Rehmat Saleh Baloch and Secretary Health Asmatullah Kakar dispatched a team of doctors to tackle the situation.

Minister Health said that the healthcare of the people is amongst the top priorities of the government in which no negligence would be tolerated. He said that a health team has been directed to be dispatched under the supervision of DG health following the outbreak of chikungunya in the coastal towns.