RAWALPINDI: Training on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for antidengue operations was organised by the Punjab Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) department in collaboration with Plan International Pakistan.

Officials from local administration, government departments, community development organisations, municipal administrations and civil society representatives attended the training.

Speaking at the event, LG&CD secretary Khalid Masood Chaudhry said the government was committed to eliminating dengue, and that special attention was being paid to Rawalpindi, where several cases of the virus have been reported.

Chaudhry said 250 spray pumps and four heavy fogging brigades have been handed over to the Rawal and Potohar town administrations to combat dengue.

He added that a control room has been established, and teams posted in Rawal Town.

He called on social and religious leaders, traders, social workers and citizens to come together to overcome the outbreak.

Adviser to the Punjab Chief Minister on Dengue Dr Waseem Akram said the anti-dengue campaign, and efforts against other vectorborne diseases, were directly linked to cleanliness.

He said the aedes aegypti and aedes albopictus cause dengue, and that both species are able to transfer the virus to humans after an extrinsic incubation period of four to six days. He said bed bugs are also common in Rawalpindi due to its atmospheric conditions.

He said the mosquito is an alarming concern, as they cause yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever.

The diseases mosquitoes carry can cause chills, sweating, respiratory dry cough, spleen enlargement, nausea and vomiting, headaches, systemic fever, muscular pain and fatigue, and back pain.

Akram also clarified various misconceptions about dengue fever and waterborne diseases.

LG&CD community development and training director Najeeb Aslam said teams from the anti-dengue campaign should inspect junkyards, construction sites, basements, petrol and CNG stations, graveyards and tyre shops for larvae. He said the data would raise awareness of the prevalence of the dengue virus, and facilitate measures to control contraction.