PESHAWAR: Health authorities continue to scale up awareness regarding Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever as the vector-borne disease is on the decline in Charsadda district where the disease has infected more than 46 per cent of the patients recorded province-wide this year so far.
Charsadda, which remained relatively safe from dengue fever in the past, witnessed violent outbreak of the disease in August and September, infecting 852 people.
Of the dengue patients in the district, 832 have recovered and sent home while only 20 are currently being treated, according to health officials.
They said that the district recorded only four dengue cases in July but the number of infected persons was 632 in August and 216 in September.
Officials say 832 patients have recovered; only 20 are under treatment
They said that the cases of the ailment were declining as people were adherence to standard operating procedures, such as covering water pots and eliminating stagnant water pools in addition to using impregnated bed nets to stay safe from mosquito-bites, the transmitter and carrier of the disease.
About four union councils in Charsadda remained the hotspot of the virus in the past two months. However, officials believe that the disease is now on decline. They also said that no death was caused by dengue so far in the district.
A report released by Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response System (IDSRS) of health department said that Haripur reported 178 patients, Mansehra 135, Peshawar 113, Swabi 78, Abbottabad 60, Kohat 54, Buner 52, Nowshera 44, Hangu 35, Bajaur 33, Mardan 31, Battagram 27, Dir Lower 25, Malakand 24, Dera Ismail Khan 22, Swat 21 and Bannu 17.
The remaining districts have diagnosed less than 12 cases whereas 10 districts stay free of the disease so far.
The mosquito-borne ailment has been endemic in the province since 2017 when it infected more than 25,000 persons, mostly in Peshawar where hospitals ran out of beds. That year, about 70 persons died of the disease, including 60 in Peshawar.
However, officials said that since then the number of deaths due to the ailment had fallen.
They said that last year, only three people of the total 4,200 infected persons succumbed to the disease.
They said that about 80 per cent of the infected persons remained asymptomatic and 20 persons with symptoms were reported which meant that all the people developed immunity to the ailment after they got infected once. “Same is the case with Peshawar, which always remains the epicentre of the disease but this year it has recorded only over 100 cases,” they said.
Officials said that people in Peshawar would remain immune to dengue virus till another strain of dengue started infecting them. The disease has four strains including A, B, C and D.
“Same is the case with Charsadda where the number of cases is more than 800 but the number of actually infected persons can be five times more than this because there are no symptoms in 80 per cent people and they have not visited hospitals and are not recorded,” they said.
Similarly, the number of hospitalisations has gone down as presently 25 patients have been admitted to hospitals.
Officials said that health department had requested some welfare organisations to wind up medical camps they had setup in Charsadda for dengue patients because most people coming there were positive.
To avoid panic, the organisations wrapped up their camps where they provided free screening services to people, they said.
Additionally, the disease infects people every year in the province so they have come to know about preventive measures due to which the disease is on decline. Officials, however, said that awareness drive would continue throughout the province.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2025
