PESHAWAR, Oct 29: The condition of a 23-year-old man, who was diagnosed positive for viral haemorrhagic fever, is improving, a doctor said.

According to Dr Farman Ali, resident medical officer (RMO) at the Khyber Teaching Hospital, the patient, Feroz Khan, son of Rahat Khan, was feeling better.

“He had been put on high antibiotics and his temperature has been gone down. We are still taking precautionary measures to stem the tide of the ailment,” he said, adding that the patient was all right now but we are not going to discharge him from the hospital.

“The patient is still a carrier of the dengue haemorrhagic fever. Therefore, he can transmit the ailment to others. We are keeping him at the hospital under strict vigilance,” he said.

He said that blood samples had been collected from relatives of a seven-year-old, a student of grade II, Mohammad Jamil, son of Malik Jehan, of the Mera village in the Kabal tehsil of Swat who had died of the disease last Thursday.

This is also being done as a precautionary step to save the people from the infection. Blood samples had been sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, and the results would be received on Monday, he said, adding that the relatives of the patients had been asked to get their blood tested at the earliest.

The provincial health department has called for carrying out insecticide spray as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, doctors have sent blood samples of a 45-year-old Mukhtiar Ahmad, son of Syed Mahmood, of Muhib Banda, Tarakai village, Swabi, who was admitted to the district headquarters hospital with high fever and headache on Wednesday.

Doctors said that the result of the test would be made available by the NIH on Tuesday. However, they said that even though his condition was improving they were not allowing him to leave hospital.

“Once, we get the result of his blood sample, and then we would be able to decide about him. At this stage, no final word can be uttered about him,” said a doctor. The same patients had also a history of visiting Karachi. His brothers have been under treatment at a Karachi-based hospital as suspected patients of dengue haemorrhagic fever.

The provincial health department has asked the people to carry out insecticide spray in their houses and upon the stagnant water pools in their areas.