People still vulnerable to dengue virus as weather cools down.

RAWALPINDI -- Although the number of dengue cases being reported has fallen, people are still vulnerable to the virus because dengue mosquitoes may enter homes to escape the cooler temperatures outside.

Experts were of the view that those who suffered from the dengue virus last season could also face dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome due to weakened immune systems and a different strain of the virus.

Focal person at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) Dr Anayatur Rehman said most of the people who suffer from dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome suffered from dengue fever last year and were bitten by the mosquito again.

He said children, elderly people and women, particularly pregnant women, can also suffer from this because their immunity is low and they cannot overcome the virus.

He said that the condition of such patients then deteriorates and they are moved to the intensive care unit. Many private clinics do not have the expertise to manage such cases, Dr Rehman said, as government-run hospitals have trained their doctors to manage critical patients and save their lives.

In the last nine years, Punjab's government-run hospitals have managed to gain expertise in managing dengue patient care, and most people who visit these hospitals are saved, he claimed.

'Due to low temperature, dengue mosquitoes will enter warm places inside houses and women, children and elderly people could fall victim to...