HARIPUR, Oct 16: Three persons including a woman have died while dozens of others have been hospitalized due to an outbreak of dengue fever epidemic in three villages of Khanpur, villagers told Dawn here on Saturday.

At least four persons had died of the similar symptoms in the three villages last year and scores of others were admitted to various hospitals.

However, health authorities did not confirm whether the deaths were due to dengue or some other causes.

Mohammad Pervez, a resident of Pind Gujran, told this correspondent on telephone that three persons including a woman died of fever in the villages of Pind Gujran and Chach while a number of others had been admitted to various private and public sector hospitals of Wah Cantt, Magala, Taxila and Haripur.

Confirming the epidemic outbreak Malik Eraj Khan of Chach village said the epidemic bore similar signs and symptoms like that of dengue fever. He said the villagers, who had fallen ill, complained of high degree fever with sever headache, backache and body pain.

He claimed that a number of villagers had been hospitalized from the adjoining areas of village Chach during the last two weeks.

Those who died of fever have identified as Resham, 35, wife of Nehmat a resident of Chach village; Mohammad Salim, 32, a village shopkeeper and Ajab Khan, 45, residents of Pind Gujran, Khanpur.

Last year at least seven people including two women died of dengue fever and scores of villagers in Haripur district were admitted to various hospitals.

The dengue fever is caused by the bite of an infected mosquito medically known as Aedes Aegypti.

Pind Gujran, Chach, Mirpur, Rani Wah, Pandak, Sera-i-Saleh, Sera-i-Nehmat Khan, Beer, Mohalla railway station, Darvesh, Kangra, Kotnajibullah and some other villages were the worst hit during the last year when an army medical team detected the prevalence of infected mosquito which had reportedly killed a cadet during a training session in a bordering village of Haripur district.

Nearly 12 cadets were reportedly hospitalized when they had contracted high degree fever from the same area.

The prevalence of dengue was confirmed when a dozen blood samples, which were sent from Haripur, were tested positive by a foreign laboratory.

A team of WHO and NIH had also reportedly caught an Ades Aegypti from village Mang on Khanpur road last year and the provincial health authorities had recommended fog and larvicide's spray in the affected areas of the district and local health authorities had reportedly conducted spray in some parts.

Meanwhile, the EDO health Haripur could not be approached for comments.