CHITRAL: The chickenpox outbreak has turned to an epidemic in Upper Chitral district as the number of infected persons has increased exponentially over the last two days with the disease also breaking out in the Mulkhow tehsil.

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       Confirming the alarming position of the contagious disease in Upper Chitral, district coordinator of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Dr Wali Khan said that the number of affected persons had reached 129 till Monday afternoon. He, however, said the unreported cases could be much higher.

       He said that earlier confined to a few villages of Mastuj tehsil, the disease had spread to Mulkhow tehsil as well, where 13 patients had been reported from the villages of Saht and Terich. He said that affected children could be found in almost every village.

       Mr Wali said that more schools had reported students suffering from chickenpox in both the tehsils. He said schools were the potential source of spreading of the virus.

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       Meanwhile, Suharwardi Khan, chairman of a community-based organisation in Laspur valley, said that the number of people affected by chickenpox was on the rise and the situation could go out of control if effective measures were not taken immediately.

       He said that Laspur valley had been the worst affected by chickenpox, where dozens of patients contracted the illness each day.

       Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2023