26 October 2017 – More than 95 000 cases of suspected dengue fever have been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in Pakistan since the start of the outbreak On 19 July 2017, including more than 20 000 laboratory-confirmed cases and 61 deaths. The district of Peshawar has reported the highest number of cases, with a total of 88 000 suspected cases, including 19 000 confirmed cases and 56 deaths as of 24 October 2017.
The WHO country office in Pakistan has provided technical support to the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to coordinate the outbreak response strategy including providing technical guidance and support for health workers in the areas of surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, case management and social mobilization. WHO has provided case management training for 30 medical officers, and held emergency training for entomologists on vector control. Moreover, WHO has recruited 4 entomologists, 2 surveillance officers, a data analyst and a communication officer to support Pakistan with the response to the outbreak. For training and strengthening the capacity of local staff, 2 dengue case management experts from WHO Collaborating Centre in Thailand were deployed.
To inform the community of the dangers of the outbreak, awareness sessions have been held to advise the community on dengue causes and prevention. Lady health workers have been engaged to educate communities to recognize dengue symptoms and refer suspected cases to health authorities.
In addition, more than 190 000 households in various areas of Peshawar were sprayed with larvicide (space spraying) during the campaign that took place from 18 to 23 October covering 14 high-burden Union Councils.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection that causes a severe flu-like illness, and sometimes causes a potentially lethal complication called severe dengue. The viruses are passed on to humans through the bites of an infective female Aedes mosquito, which acquires the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person. No facilitation of running water, poverty, lack of healthy environment, old beliefs of dealing with sickness are some of the factors which have contributed to the spread of the disease in Pakistan.