PESHAWAR: Health authorities in Nowshera district have extended surveillance to adjoining union councils and started larvicidal activities after detection of eight more chikungunya patients in Ziarat Kaka Sahib area on Sunday.
So far, 14 confirmed cases of chikungunya have been reported in Spin Kanai union council of Ziarat Kaka Sahib, prompting health authorities to launch infection control measures in nearby areas to prevent spread of the virus.
“In view of the risk posed by the emergence of more cases, we have decided to create a buffer zone between infected and non-infected union councils and implement indoor residual spraying (IRS) for chikungunya control,” the district health officer, Dr Akram Shah, told Dawn.
He said that all the confirmed patients were under home treatment but they had taken on board tehsil municipal administration (TMA) to ensure that the disease did not spread further.
He said that coordinated active case finding and larvicide spray would be conducted in the adjacent union councils that were at direct risk of chikungunya spread from the recent ongoing outbreak.
The DHO said that health and TMA workers would visit houses to identify active cases using CDC case definitions to develop line list, distribute paracetamol tablets and ORS among people. He said that for case management and any further investigation, patients would be referred to Category-D hospitals in Ziarat Kaka Sahib, Manki and Akora Khattak.
“To ensure elimination of the virus, teams will conduct vector surveillance in houses and containers alongside scaling up awareness regarding vector-borne diseases and control measures,” he said. In addition to conducting IRS, spraying and sprinkles of insecticides and mechanical destruction of larvae, teams were tasked to identify and unblock the clogged sewage lines, he added.
Dr Akram said Pabbi TMA would provide support to health workers. He said that Dr Mohammad Ashfaq, the medical superintendent of Manki hospital, would be the focal person to coordinate among all stakeholders, monitor activities, interact with community and submit report.
Lady health visitors and lady health workers will be deployed to ensure home surveillance for larvae and subsequent destruction. Likewise, Jehangira TMA will provide support to union councils of Manai, Chashmai, Shaidu and parts of Akora Khattak.
“With the support of directorate-general health services and line departments, we have been well on our way to ensure that new infections are prevented. Our teams have been in contact with people to impart them health education about the causes and prevention of the disease,” he said.
The DHO said that isolation wards were established and samples were being collected from suspected patients and dispatched to public health reference laboratory at Khyber Medical University.
He said that a district control room was set up to share details with media and relevant authorities. Adequate stockpiling of essential medicines for standard treatment of patients was provided to all hospitals and people were engaged to promote vector prevention and control measures.
“Situation is monitored strictly to oversee outbreak control activities by ensuring that all key decisions involve relevant stakeholders for coordinated action and share meeting minutes with health department,” he said.
Dr Akram said that following outbreak of chikungunya in Karachi and other parts of the country, the disease was endemic in different areas like dengue fever. Keeping in view the hyper active season of mosquitoes and previous seasonal trends of the disease, it was imperative to undertake preventive measures while staying vigilant to pick suspected cases, confirming the disease and taking steps to interrupt further transmission of the virus, he added.
Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2026
