PESHAWAR: Health department has ordered relevant officials to set up control room and isolation wards besides stockpiling medicines in view of the anticipated outbreak of Chikungunya, a dengue-like ailment, in Peshawar district as Public Health Reference Laboratory has started collecting samples of suspected patients.

On the other hand, dengue also continued to infect people as 77 new cases of the ailment were recorded and 32 patients were shifted to hospitals during the last 24 hours. The overall tally of dengue cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 2,880 and the number of hospitalisations is 1,269.

Currently, the province has a total of 276 active dengue cases and 98 are being managed in hospitals. Charsadda, Mansehra, Haripur and Peshawar have recorded 966, 299, 262 and 238 dengue cases, respectively.

Officials of health department said that it was observed during the visit of the director-general health services, Dr Shahid Yunis, to dengue-affected areas that many people had symptoms similar to Chikungunya. They said that Public Health Reference Laboratory at Khyber Medical University was asked to take samples from suspected people.

PHRL has started collecting samples of suspected patients

“So far, 21 samples have been collected the result of which will be available after 24 hours,” they said.

The district health officer of Peshawar has been instructed to take elaborate measures to put brakes on possible outbreak of Chikungunya as reports of the ailment have been recorded in local communities by provincial disease surveillance and response unit (PDSRU) of public health section of director-general health services office, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Officials said that reports indicated a rising number of febrile illness cases that were clinically assessed by medical practitioners. They said that the cases were suspected to be Chikungunya, which needed to be managed effectively to prevent its outbreak.

The DHO has been directed to set up a district control room with designated staff, establish isolation wards in hospitals located in the vicinity with a high number of suspected cases and ensure adequate stockpiling of essential medicines for the standard treatment of patients.

The directives also include strengthening larval source management and mechanical elimination of mosquito breeding sites in affected communities along with maintenance of updated line list of cases, ensuring daily cases data is promptly entered into the system for response.

Officials said that the director-general health ordered intensification community engagement and awareness campaigns promoting vector prevention and control measures besides holding review meetings on daily basis to oversee outbreak control activities by ensuring all key decisions involving relevant stakeholders for coordinated action.

Health department has also issued an advisory, which says that Chikungunya is a viral disease caused by Chikungunya Virus (CHKV) and transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes to humans. The advisory is actually released by National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad.

The disease occurs in tropical countries and has been reported in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. It shares some clinical signs with dengue. The disease can be misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common.

“However, CHKV infections are rarely fatal without any significant haemorrhagic manifestations,” says the advisory. The proximity of mosquito breeding sites to human habitation is a significant risk factor and the viruses can circulate in same area with dengue to cause occasional co-infections in the same patient, it adds.

Following outbreaks of Chikungunya in some districts, the disease is now endemic in many parts of the country like dengue. Keeping in view the hyper active season of mosquitoes and previous seasonal trends of the disease, it is imperative to undertake preventive measures while staying vigilant to pick suspected cases, confirming the disease and taking steps to interrupt its further transmission.

About its incubation period, the advisory says that onset of the illness usually occurs four to eight days after exposure but it can range from two to 12 days.

The disease is spread by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes, primarily Aedes aegypti and also Aedes albopictus.

“These mosquitoes are active during the day. Both species are found biting outdoors, but Aedes aegypti also readily feeds indoors,” says the advisory.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025