PESHAWAR: People in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province continue to be infected with dengue fever though the health department claims that the situation is under control.
The department has also urged people to take preventive measures against the infectious disease, including preventing mosquito bites and avoiding water storage in uncovered pots.
According to a report released by its Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response System, 19 more people were infected with the vector-borne disease in the province on Saturday, taking the overall tally of the confirmed cases this year to 3,601.
It added that 17 more dengue patients were admitted by hospitals in the last 24 hours, increasing the number of such hospitalisations to 51.
Since the start of the current year, 1,491 people have been hospitalised. Of those diagnosed with the infection, 3,323 have recovered. Two people, both from Mardan district, have so far lost life to the disease. Active dengue cases in the province total276, including 68 in Peshawar, 19 in Haripur, 17 in Mardan, 16 in Malakand, 15 in Kohat,14 each in Swabi, Hangu and Lower Dir, 13 in Lakki Marwat and 11 in Charsadda.
Health dept insists situation under control, asks people to take preventive measures
Charsadda has registered 1,034 cases, highest in any district of the province, followed by Peshawar with 347 cases, Haripur 317, Mansehra 299, Kohat 144, Swabi 143, Abbottabad 125 and Hangu 102.
Officials at the directorate general (health services)said the infection was widespread except a few districts, including Torghar, Shangla, Lower South Waziristan, Orakzai, North Waziristan, Upper and Lower Kurram, Khyber, Upper Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, which haven’t recorded any case.
They, however, said the dengue incidence was under control.
The officials said the departmental teams, which had been going from house to house in endemic areas of Peshawar, found almost every house filled with mosquito larvae as residents continued to store water in uncovered pots, increasing the population of mosquitoes, the carriers and transmitters of the virus.
They said the free medical camps, set up to test the people for dengue, diagnosed most visitors with malaria, which was caused by mosquito bites like dengue.
The officials said many people mistook malaria for dengue and reached out to quacks who administered dextrose water drips, which deteriorated their condition.
They said the people shouldn’t go to unauthorised medical practitioners and should rather approach the nearby hospitals for proper screening.
The officials said dengue incidence would continue to rise until the end of the current month as the temperature was favourable for mosquito production.
They added that in such a situation, the people should adopt preventive measures against dengue.
The officials said the province had been dengue endemic since 2012 but the cases spiked in 2017, killing 70 people and hospitalising 25,000.
They said Peshawar had so far remained the epicentre of the infection but this year, Charsadda had outnumbered the former regarding dengue cases.
The officials said the rising dengue incident was a recurring public health issue as the province had mosquitoes, which spread not only dengue but other diseases like malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis.
They said the only option to stay safe from dengue was preventive measures.
The officials said lady health workers had been playing a significant role in the implementation of preventive measures against dengue as they continued to visit houses and scale up awareness about the problem caused by the open water storage.
They, however, said in most cases, such campaigns didn’t bear fruit.
The officials said most people had made their own arrangements to keep water for use amid excessive power outages.
Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2025