HARIPUR, Oct 25: Dengue fever is reported to have struck some villages in Khanpur and Hattar areas and a large number of people are reported to have been hospitalized after being exposed to people already running the fever.

Sources said that the dengue fever outbreak was first reported in villages of Rani Wah, Pind Gujran, and Chach in the Khanpur area last week while a number of people from Hattar, Shadi and Nazarabad villages were admitted to various hospitals with similar symptoms.

Earlier, villagers had confirmed four deaths from these villages against a total of seven people who died last year.

Those who died of dengue fever this year were identified as Mrs Nemat Khan from Chach, Salim and Ajab Khan from Pind Gujran while Malik Gul Zaman of Hattar village. It was reported that many of the villagers from these localities had been admitted in the hospitals of Taxila, Wah, Margala, and Islamabad.

Meanwhile, EDO, health, Dr Qasim said that a fact-finding team had been sent to the affected area to ascertain the cause of the deaths occurring last week. He said that specialists at Abbottabad and NIH had also been informed about the outbreak.

Dr Qasim said that he was not posted in Haripur during August and September this year and he did not know if the affected areas had been sprayed with larvicide and fog spray or not. However, he said that the record showed that the health authorities had conducted spray in these areas where the reoccurrence of epidemic was reported.