Ten die of mysterious disease in Dir

Unknown disease claims ten lives and leads to 15 being hospitalised in Lower Dir.

LOWER DIR: Ten people have died of an unknown disease in Lower Dir while another 15 have been shifted to a hospital with the same symptoms.

According to locals, the disease broke out around 15 days ago, with symptoms of severe temperature and body ache which result in death within two weeks.

Doctors say the symptoms of the disease are similar to dengue virus.  The blood samples of the affected persons have been sent to National Institute of Health in Islamabad.

Three cricially ill patients have been shifted to Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar where they are being kept in isolation ward.

Around 345 dengue cases, all in the primary stages, have been reported in government hospitals in Karachi and Hyderabad this year.

The number is drastically lower than the approximate 2,500 cases reported last year in the cities, but doctors believe that this figure does not provide the actual picture.

One dengue patient was diagnosed with the Congo virus in Karachi causing alarm in the city.