Fish deployed to contain dengue fever in Pakistan's Punjab

On one side of the battle are the countless swarms of mosquitoes that thrive in Pakistan's steamy summer months. On the other, vast quantities of hungry fish conscripted into a fight against a deadly virus that is reaching epidemic proportions.

Authorities battling the menace of dengue fever claim to have turned the tide against the mosquitoes that carry the disease with the help of 1.6 million fish released this year into pools, puddles, fountains and any other potential insect-breeding places they can find.

Punjab has waged an all-out campaign against dengue - a potentially lethal disease spread by mosquito bites - since a major outbreak in 2011 infected tens of thousands and killed more than 300 people.

Software designers were tasked to make smartphone apps to track outbreaks, the government cracked down hard on anyone who left old tyres in areas where they could collect rainwater and areas of stagnant water were doused with tonnes of noxious chemicals.

But it's the release of huge numbers of fish, even into water that soon evaporates, that many credit with helping to beat back the disease, which is now surging in other areas of the country.