Photo from PU website |
The Punjab University has set up a team of researchers to look for diagnostic, preventive and curative measures against the dengue virus.
Vice
Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran called a meeting of all the university’s
scientists involved in research connected to the dengue mosquito and
virus at the Centre for Undergraduate Studies on Thursday to coordinate
their research, said a PU press release.
The
vice chancellor told the scientists to submit their research proposals
and the administration would try to arrange funding for them as soon as
possible. He said that a separate budget for dengue research would be
drawn up.
CAMB
Director Dr Tayyab Hasnain said that three projects were recently
discussed at a meeting at the centre. “Firstly, we have a low-priced
powder which can be added to water to kill mosquitoes, but we need to
test it on the dengue mosquito. Secondly, there is the question of which
medicine is effective against dengue. And thirdly, can diagnostic PCR
analysis help diagnose a patient suffering from dengue fever.”
Dr
Fauzia Qamar briefed the meeting on her research into treatment. She
said hospitals had vastly improved their treatment of dengue patients
since the outbreak began. She said from talks with patients, it was
clear that there was a lot of misinformation about dengue.
She
said high-grade fever, vomiting, sore throat, and a decline in the
platelet count were symptoms of dengue infection, but did not
necessarily mean the patient had dengue. She said only 20 per cent of
people visiting hospital for fear they have dengue tested positive for
the disease.
She
said extreme muscle and joint pain, severe headache, muscle pain,
severe dizziness, spontaneous bruising, shivering, restlessness, loss of
appetite, weak pulse and a drastically reduced platelet counts were
authentic symptoms of dengue.
As Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2011.
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