Dengue cases soar past 5,500 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

Health officials maintain that no fatalities reported unlike other parts of country

PESHAWAR: The number of dengue cases reported in the province has soared past the 5,500 mark, however, health officials maintained that despite a large number of cases, no fatalities as a result of the viral fever have been reported thus far.

However, a daily dengue case report prepared by the Provincial Dengue Response Unit and the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) showed that 85 dengue cases had been reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) over the past 24 hours with the total number of cases rising to 5,789.

The provincial government on Friday officially released figures for dengue cases reported in the province over the past three months — the main dengue transmission season.



Focal Person for Dengue Dr Ahmed told The Express Tribune that Peshawar leads the number of dengue cases reported in the province, accounting for nearly half of all cases reported in the province with some 2,266 cases.

The city is followed by Swat — the home district of K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan — with 457 cases. It is followed by Swabi with 368 cases, Mansehra with 325 cases, Kohat with 297, Mardan with 247, Haripur with 209, Khyber Tribal District with 182, Nowshera with 177, Shangla with 174, Battagram with 147, Abbottabad with 137, Lower Dir with 133, Bajaur Tribal District with 91, Bunner with 81, Dera Ismail Khan with 78, Charsadda with 45, Lakki Marwat with 34, Bannu with 24, Hangu with 11 and Kohistan with seven cases.

Malakand and Upper Dir reported six cases each, three from Karak, while Tank and the Mohmand Tribal District reported one case each.

The only districts not to report any case thus far were Chitral, Torghar, Orakzai Tribal District and the North and South Waziristan Tribal Districts.

Dr Ahmed added that since August 2019, some 5,330 dengue patients have been discharged after treating them at various hospitals, while 179 new patients have arrived in hospitals.

He dismissed media reports of patients allegedly dying of dengue infection, maintaining that not even a single patient has died of the disease, unlike in other parts of the country.

The K-P government official claimed that the deaths took place due to other health complications or pre-existing conditions and that media reports had incorrectly linked them to the virus.

Dr Ahmed stated that the government was actively running an anti-dengue campaign in the province, including a fumigation campaign along with awareness drives about the disease.

“Special dengue wards have also been set up at main hospitals to provide timely treatment to dengue patients,” Dr Ahmed said.

Meanwhile, the IDSR report for Friday read that as many as 24 new cases of dengue virus were reported over the past 24 hours. A further 15 cases were reported from Mardan and 14 cases from Kohat.



It added that some 177 dengue patients are currently admitted in hospitals across the province of which 56 were admitted in the past 24 hours. This included 48 patients who remain admitted to hospitals in Peshawar — 11 of which were admitted in the past 24 hours.

The report further said that a total of 5,612 patients have been discharged so far, including 28 in the past 24 hours. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2019.