Dengue virus becomes more dangerous

The dengue virus has adapted. No longer does the virus breed only in freshwater bodies. Recent samples have shown it multiplying even in sewage puddles abundant across Karachi. In the two-room dengue surveillance cell at the Civil Hospital Karachi, officials are puzzled over the latest development of the dengue virus. “It is March and cases are already being reported. Dengue was a summer disease,” said Dr Shakeel Aamir Mullick, the focal person for the cell, which records cases reported in the province every day and updates it on its social media page. “This is suspected due to a recently multiplying breed of the dengue mosquito that grows even in cold temperatures.” Previously, dengue broke out after monsoon in the month of August, when the room temperature shot to 28 degrees Celsius and rainwater accumulated on roadsides and in open nullahs. The dengue mosquito may lay eggs on dry patches of land, but the eggs only...