Lahore: At a busy department store in Lahore, Fehmida Ahmad, a mother of three small children, searches for mosquito repellent creams and sprays, as well as insecticide to kill the tiny, buzzing insects.
"There is a shortage of repellent creams, and I haven't been able to find good quality ones even at the top chemists. I may ask my sister to try and find some in Karachi and send them across," she said.
Fehmida, and many others across the country, are enduring a daily battle against being bitten by mosquitoes. This year, dengue fever has affected 5,000 people according to the National Health Department and there have been 31 confirmed deaths. Others may have occurred in more remote rural areas, but have not yet been diagnosed or reported.
"It's impossible to get a bed in a hospital. I took in my cousin who had suspected dengue, but the private hospitals say they have no room and there are three people to one bed in government-run hospitals," said Khalil Rehman, an engineer.
Dengue, a viral disease caused by the bite of the Aedes egypti mosquito, a distinctly striped species of the insect that thrives on clean water, has been endemic in Pakistan since 2004, when the first major outbreak occurred.
The disease was virtually unknown before then. While the vast majority of dengue cases are not fatal, for a small percentage of people, infection can lead to dengue haemorrhaegic fever, which has a high death rate.
Public fears have been heightened by widespread media coverage of the disease and the deaths it has caused, while the fact that viral infections, resulting in moderate to high fever are common in many parts of the country as winter sets in, means that many with the fever are worried about the possibility of dengue.
"My son had a fever and was complaining of a headache, and for some time we were very worried that it could be dengue. But it turned out to be nothing more than a bad cold," said Anwar Ahmad.
Banners strung up across the streets in Lahore warn people not to allow water to stand anywhere in their homes and to seek treatment if they're ill. This year, the presence of pools of water in villages in some parts of the country, due to the floods, which happened between July and September, are believed to have contributed to the number of cases of dengue.
It's hoped the onset of cold weather will kill off the mosquitoes in the northern parts of the country. But so far, temperatures have not fallen enough to bring the post-monsoon mosquito season to an end. As a result, people are growing increasingly concerned.
"It is really difficult to keep children from playing outdoors now that it's cool and pleasant, and also very difficult to avoid being bitten. The situation is really quite problematic right now and fighting the mosquitoes seems to be becoming a round the clock job for many of us," said Fehmida Ahmad.
