Mallhi, Tauqeer Hussain and Khan, Yusra Habib and Khan, Amer Hayat and Tanveer, Nida and Khan, Omaid Hayat and Aftab, Raja Ahsan
(2017)
Commentary: Outbreak of Chikungunya in Pakistan.
Frontiers in Public Health , 5 (261).
pp. 1-2.
ISSN 2296-2565
Abstract
Rauf et al. in their recent correspondence in “Lancet Infectious Diseases” reported the first chikungunya
outbreak in Karachi, Pakistan with 30,000 suspected and 4,000 confirmed cases (1). However,
these estimates have been denied in a subsequent report by the National Institute of Health (NIH)
indicating 818 suspected and 82 laboratory-confirmed cases of chikungunya (2). Rauf and colleagues
have highlighted warm climate and wretched sanitary conditions as contributing factors of current
outbreak and urge national and international health-organizations to address these momentous
issues (1). We agree that climatic features and sanitation issues potentially lead to vector proliferation
and the importance of these concerns cannot be disregarded. However, we felt inclined to share our
point of view about the recent outbreak of chikungunya in Pakistan. We believe that there are some
more important factors that should be considered as causes of this outbreak and must be addressed
by the Government of Pakistan in haste to quell the further disease spillover. One of these factors is
unchecked cross-border movements between Pakistan and India.
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