MARDAN/BUNER, Sept 6: Fourteen people, including a woman, have tested positive for dengue in Mardan district.

According to local deputy commissioner Amir Latif, five of the patients were diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease in the first week of September but were after doctors declared their condition stable.

He told Dawn that nine dengue patients were admitted to the Mardan Medical Complex Hospital, where there was an isolation ward for them.

The deputy commissioner said three dengue patients brought in from Jalala, Shergar and Lundkhwar areas were businessmen in Swat district but they were shifted to Mardan after a great rush of the people was seen at Swat hospitals.

He said doctors at the hospital had declared the condition of all dengue patients stable and out of danger.

“We have set up a dengue clinic and isolation ward for dengue patients at the Mardan Medical Complex Hospital, where dengue tests are carried out free of charge,” he said. Mr Latif said all staff of all relevant departments had been alerted with special directives to launch fumigation campaigns in different parts of the district.

He said the arrival of dengue virus in Mardan was a very dangerous development and the situation could get out of control if the virus was not stopped from spreading.

When asked, district coordinator Dr Ameer Khan said he had no information about dengue and those suffering from it.

In Buner, the number of dengue patients at the isolation ward of DHQ Hospital, Daggar reached five on Friday after the admission of two more people suffering from the mosquito-borne disease.

Insiders said 28-year-old Jasim of Baloo Khan village and 25-year-old Mohammad Ghafoor of Bampoha village were admitted to the hospital on Friday.