HARIPUR: The dengue virus continued to infect more people as the number of positive cases has risen to 15 in Haripur district, official sources said here on Monday.

Till last week, according to statistics collected from the office of district health officer Dr Saifullah Khalid, there were only eight patients who were diagnosed with dengue fever.

All but one patient were discharged after they recovered.

The lone patient was referred to Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad, who was also later discharged from there, Dr Sher Bahadur, the focal person for anti-vector programme, told Dawn.

Meanwhile, according to updates shared on Monday, the official said that the total number of dengue positive patients had risen to 15.

Out of these patients, seven were registered during the last four days with two of them having been discharged following their recovery, whereas five were still under treatment at the dengue isolation ward of the district headquarters hospital, Haripur.

To a question, the focal person said that there was not a single dengue-caused death reported from across the district, and that the number of patients was much less than the previous years as the timely fumigation had helped the health department gain control of the vector-borne disease.

Dr Sher Bahadur said that the communities were being educated about preventive measures at village level and mobile teams of doctors and paramedics were regularly visiting the areas where dengue had infected people.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2019