PESHAWAR: The health department reported 44 new dengue cases on Saturday as doctors urged patients to follow precautions against the mosquito-borne illness.

During a seminar held at the Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex, Nowshera, doctors urged the residents to remove standing water from their areas to prevent mosquitoes, which are the vector-borne disease’s carriers and transmitters, from breeding there.

The medical complex’s medical director Dr Sardar Sohail Afsar announced that the organisation would keep up its dengue awareness campaign in Nowshera district, the only one where the disease has claimed two lives.

He added that Nowshera was the site of the virus and precautions had to be taken to avoid mosquito bites, as evidenced by the 193 cases of the 2,935 infections reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During the event, Dr Kamran Hakeem Khan Deen Wazir, the hospital’s director, gave the guests information about dengue symptoms and how to avoid them. He advised anyone experiencing headache, joint or bone discomfort, nausea, vomiting, or fever to see the appropriate physician for further testing.

Prof Mohammad Khalid and Prof Dr Hanan Bangash also addressed the event organised by the General Medicine Department.

According to the health department, the disease had so far infected 2,935 people, of whom 2,517 had recovered.

According to the latest report, 450 persons have been hospitalised due to dengue hemorrhagic fever.

In the last 24 hours, eight new patients were admitted to hospitals.

The province’s highest number of cases by district is 1,001 in Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024