ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has warned an outbreak of dengue fever in 10 major cities across Pakistan, saying the climate outlook provides an “ideal” environment for the spread of the viral infection in October. 

Dengue fever has deepened its roots and severely impacted the health of people in Pakistan over the last ten years. The viral infection particularly spreads during the post-monsoon season, from mid-September till the start of December, provided the conditions are favorable. 

The infection, transmitted to humans through mosquito bite, triggers during the periods when the temperature and humidity threshold remains 26-29°C and 60 percent respectively, according to the PMD. 

The active period for dengue attacks is two hours after the sunrise and two hours before the sunset, while the breeding dengue mosquito stops once the temperature falls below 16°C. 

“Keeping in view the past data analysis, current and future climate outlook, the abovementioned atmospheric variables are providing an ideal environment for a dengue outbreak,” the PMD said in an alert this week. 

“Based on the analysis, the environment has become conducive from mid of September 2022 for dengue onset and it is predicted that it may outbreak in October 2022, particularly in ten major cities of Pakistan i.e., Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Larkana and Multan as well as in flood-affected areas of Pakistan.” 

Pakistan has deployed thousands more doctors and medics to battle the outbreak of diseases as the death toll from the unprecedented floods this summer has surpassed 1,600. 

In Sindh, where thousands of makeshift medical camps for flood survivors have been set up, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said outbreaks of a spate of illnesses such as typhoid, malaria and dengue fever have killed at least 300 of the flood victims. 

Teams of fumigators have fanned out across flood-hit areas, spraying in an effort to keep mosquitos at bay and prevent further outbreaks of dengue fever and malaria. 

Dengue fever is also on the rise, especially in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, where health teams were spraying insecticide onto puddles of water in the streets. 

The southern port city has reported two more deaths from dengue fever, bringing the death toll to 34 in September, according to official figures. Sindh has so far reported 7,532 dengue cases, including 6,525 in Karachi alone.