PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has started mosquito larva surveillance and training doctors in dengue case management after detection of four cases of the mosquito-borne viral infection in the province.

However, the people associated with the anti-dengue campaign have been facing problems in getting data from hospitals, especially from the private ones, to know the exact quantum of the cases and devise policy accordingly, according to officials.

Officials complain they’re struggling to get data from hospitals to know disease burden

“Following the early reporting of dengue cases, we imparted training to 100 doctors from tertiary and secondary care hospitals for identifying suspected cases and collecting specimens for testing,” said a senior official at the integrated disease surveillance and response system (IDSRS) of the public health section at the Directorate General (Health Services).

He told Dawn that during surveillance, the teams identified mosquito larvae at 15 cities before destroying them as part of the drive to prevent the spread of the virus to the community.

In a weekly report, the health department said 61 suspected patients were tested and four of them turned out to be dengue positive cases.

It added that two cases had been reported in Kohat and one each in Bannu and Karak.

The department said usually, dengue cases began emerging in April and May and surged from June to October, but this year, the early advent of the disease had prompted it to start efforts early.

When contacted, director of Public Health Reference Lab (PHRL) at the Khyber Medical University Prof Yasar Mehmood Yousafzai that recent dengue cases could be attributed to the presence of Aedes albopictus, a mosquito species that thrived in cooler temperatures compared to Aedes aegypti.

“This species is adapting to the region’s climatic conditions, increasing the risk of dengue transmission,” he said.

The director said activation of the Social and Behavioural Change Communication Cell and larval surveillance efforts by the department was the right move at the right time to curb the spread of dengue through continued vigilance and preventive measures against mosquito breeding.

Officials at the department said that they had informed the Health Care Commission to ensure surveillance and reporting of dengue fever data as under-reporting from private sector hospitals and laboratories remained a concern.

They said improper water storage practices in households and construction sites created favourable conditions for mosquito breeding, which could lead to an increased larval burden in the environment.

The officials said under the Dengue Action Plan, 2026, all relevant departments had been instructed to carry out collaborative efforts to contain the virus.

They said86pc of the districts had nominated a focal person for implementation of DAP, while the activities were being done with the World Health Organisation’s support.

The officials said health secretary Shahidullah Khan would soon contact all departments to nominate their focal persons for DAP’s enforcement.

They said logistics requirements from all districts had been received at the provincial level, while a distribution plan had been finalised for timely execution.

The officials said the procurement process for larvicides had been initiated.

They said the province witnessed cases of the vector-borne disease almost every year with 2017 being the worst when 70 people were killed and 25,000 hospitalised.

The officials, however, said there hadn’t been a major public health emergency after that as last year, 6,000 dengue cases were diagnosed, mostly in Charsadda district where an outbreak infected more than 1,000 persons in two union councils.

They said only four deaths from dengue were recorded in the province last year, down from seven in 2024.

The officials hoped that this year, the burden of the disease would be far less than yesteryear’s.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026