Flood-related illnesses were thought to be diarrhoea or typhoid, but now it seems that dengue and polio are to be added to the list. Karachi hospitals have reported 17 deaths due to dengue since May, and are now inundated with thousands of cases. At the same time, poliovirus samples have been collected from the sewage of most cities, including Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, some for the first time since last year. While this does not mean an immediate outbreak of the virus, it is a precursor. Its seriousness can be gauged from the declaration of disaster emergency in the state of New York after the poliovirus was detected in five of its 62 counties. New York State has countered with an immediate and vigorous response, vaccinating the unvaccinated.
Particular attention must be paid to the dengue menace, for while matters are not as bad as when it first spread devastation some years ago in Punjab, the floods seems to have paved the way for its dangerous revival. Floodwaters are clear of larvae when floods hit, but as they rede they leave behind pools of water. Such water is not drained, and is left to stagnate. This is where the aedeas aegypti, the anopheles vector, comes in, finding such water an ideal breeding ground. As soon as the larvae hatch, the disease begins to spread. The Punjab government thus has little time to launch a vigorous campaign against the larvae, which is its primary duty in this emergency.
At the same time, it cannot afford to ignore the polio threat. Because Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries to have polio, they have been the subjects of vaccination campaigns. However, the detection of poliovirus samples in cities where it had disappeared indicated that there was the possibility of a fresh outbreak, and all of the previous effort going waste. To stop that, it is essential for the provincial governments to arrange for vigorous vaccination campaigns immediately, and refuse to hide behind the floods as an excuse. Otherwise, the human loss, in terms of persons crippled, may well be more than can be imagined.
