After confirmation of some cases of dengue fever in Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, concerns over more cases of dengue fever in the respective provinces and other provinces particularly Kabul, the capital, increased.
Mohammad Sayed Momand, a resident of Kunar, is suffering from the dengue fever and under treatment.
“I’ve been suffering the dengue fever for the past few days,” Momand said, adding that the main symptoms of the dengue fever was fever, aches and pains, or a rash and vomiting.
A resident of Nangarhar, Farid Ahmad, says that his family members’ dengue fever have been confirmed and they are now under treatment at Jalalabad regional hospital.
He is thinking of his family’s health and concerned of increasing cases of the disease in the province.
According to physicians, Dengue (DENG-gey) fever is a mosquito-borne illness that occurs in tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
Mild dengue fever causes a high fever and flu-like symptoms.
The severe form of dengue fever, also called dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause serious bleeding, a sudden drop in blood pressure (shock) and death.
Millions of cases of dengue infection occur worldwide each year. Dengue fever is most common in Southeast Asia, the western Pacific islands, Latin America and Africa.
But the disease has been spreading to new areas, including local outbreaks in some countries and now Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says cases of dengue fever in the country’s east are less comparing to previous years.
In its recent report, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said a new wave of dengue fever has been confirmed in Afghanistan with a total of 64 cases reported between 12 June and 30 July 2022 from Nangarhar province only, with no associated deaths. Of the 64 reported cases, 47 (73.4%) were female, and all were over 5 years of age.
Outbreaks of dengue fever have emerged sporadically in Afghanistan.
The first outbreak was reported in 2019 in the Eastern region of Afghanistan with only 15 cases.
However, by September 2021, the disease had resurfaced, infecting 775 people and killing one in Nangarhar province only. The last cases of this outbreak were reported on 2 January 2022.
Prevention is the most effective approach to reducing the risk of dengue infection, as there is no specific treatment for the disease. The main methods of controlling or preventing the transmission of dengue virus aim to combat the mosquito vector.
Samiullah Momand
Concerns over dengue outbreak in Afghanistan eastern provinces
