Skin disease spreads in remote village

CHITRAL: The district health department of Lower Chitral has received reports about a rising number of skin disease cases in the remote Sheikhan Deh village of Kalash Valley.

A statement issued by the health department said that on the direction of District Health Officer Dr Fayyaz Rumi, a 10-member outbreak response team was sent to Sheikhan Deh village of Rumbur, located about 50 km from the Chitral city.

The team remained in the area on July 22 and 23 and visited about 90 houses. Besides collecting samples of those affected by the skin disease, the team administered measles vaccine to 204 children. Moreover, 42 children who had missed the routine vaccination were also covered.

Besides, swab and blood samples were collected from six children who were currently suffering from the skin disease. The samples were sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad.

According to the opinion of the visiting team, most of the children had impetigo, a superficial skin ailment, which is usually caused by poor hygienic conditions.

The health team inspected all the houses in the area and found no signs of the outbreak of any serious contagious disease such as measles, but reports of samples sent to NIH were awaited, said the statement.