CHITRAL: The health department has confirmed three cases of chickenpox in students of a government primary school in Bakrabad area of Lower Chitral, while declaring as inaccurate almost all the cases of the contagious disease reported by the education department.

District health officer Dr Fayaz Rumi told Dawn that due to the rising number of chickenpox cases in Upper Chitral, the education department of Lower Chitral had been directed to report any case of the disease in its embryonic stage in the students.

He said hype had been created on the social media during the last three days when different schools reported the incidence of the disease in large number of students enrolled in the public sector schools, both boys and girls.

He, however, said the teams of health department found the reports to be inaccurate as the children purported to have contracted chickenpox were found to be suffering from normal rash, mosquito bites and vitiligo, which remotely resembled the chickenpox spots.

Dr Rumi said the disease surveillance and response team sent by the provincial government had also found that the reports of different government schools were not factual except the three cases found in Bakrabad village.

“The teachers might have given the inaccurate report of the prevalence of chickenpox in their school to get it closed down and enjoy the vacations thereafter,” he said in a lighter vein.

Meanwhile, the incidence of chickenpox has considerably decreased in Upper Chitral district, where about 300 students and teachers of various schools had been affected.

Upper Chitral DC Khalid Zaman told Dawn that all the three schools closed last week were reopened on Tuesday, while the affected persons were recovering fast, leading to decrease in the number of active patients. He said no fresh cases had been reported during the last two to three days.

He said the surveillance team consisting of public health experts sent by the provincial government had also confirmed chickenpox cases were on the decline in Upper Chitral.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023