LAHORE, June 2: At least 10 people have been tested positive for dengue virus in the city, it is learnt.

Eight dengue patients were confirmed by senior bacteriologist Dr Zarafshan Tahir and two were diagnosed by Jinnah Hospital doctors. Another dengue patient was reported at Services Hospital.

Medical experts say dengue virus appears every two years. Last year, dengue fever hit Punjab, especially Lahore, where 4,200 people were affected and only 2,000 were reported. It claimed lives of many people in the province.

However, resurgence of dengue virus in the city eight months after last year’s ‘outbreak’ has alerted health authorities. Some hospitals are making emergency arrangements to treat dengue patients. The Jinnah Hospital administration has formed Dengue Surveillance Cell and appointed senior registrar Dr Zeman Khan as the focal person.

Mr Khan told Dawn that 40-year-old Parveen of Johar Town was one of the two patients who tested positive for dengue virus at Jinnah Hospital. He said all diagnostic facilities were available at the hospital for dengue patients and added that anti-mosquito measures had been taken at the health facility and a 23-bed dengue ward had been set up in the Medical Unit-I.

Ms Tahir said presently five PCR machines were functional and tests were being conducted almost daily. She said at present no PCR test was being conducted at any teaching hospital of the province and patients from all hospitals were being referred to her department at the Institute of Public Health. She said her department was receiving blood samples of two to three people daily for dengue virus tests.