Diphtheria outbreak becomes challenge for KP health dept

PESHAWAR: The outbreak of diphtheria has become a challenge for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department and particularly the highly paid employees of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) as the infectious disease has reportedly caused 17 deaths and infected 44, 291 people in 28 districts of the province.

Mahmood Aslam Wazir, provincial secretary health, told The News that the outbreak has been reported from 28 districts.

He said 16 suspected cases were confirmed in the laboratory.

The secretary said 16 people had lost their lives due to diphtheria-related symptoms.

He said two people died of diphtheria in January, one each in March and July, two each in August and September and seven other lost their lives as a result of the viral infection in October.

Mahmood Aslam Wazir said their age group was mostly between 2 to 10 years.

The secretary said that a 24 years old patient also lost his life due to diphtheria on March 22, 2023.

Director EPI Dr Mohammad Arif avoided to comment and later released his video statement in which he didn’t talk about the 16 human losses. People in the EPI said their department was clueless about the outbreak and subsequent deaths caused by the infectious disease.

According to the secretary health, four positive cases were confirmed in the lab, one each from Batagram, Charsadda, Khyber tribal district and Kohat.

According to the official, 89 percent of the reported cases in all age groups have no diphtheria vaccination history.

He said 81 percent cases were in age group of 5 years and above. (Aged between 7m to 68 years).