Pakistan Reports 58 Whooping Cough and 49 Meningitis Cases in a Week

Short answer: Pakistan reported 58 suspected whooping cough (pertussis) cases, 49 meningitis cases and 167 chickenpox cases in week 38 of 2026, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says. Pertussis and meningitis both rose from the week before. AJK alone sent 42 of the pertussis cases. Check your child's vaccine card.

The NIH put the bulletin online on Friday 9 October 2026. We read the week 38 and week 37 tables ourselves. These three diseases are grouped with the vaccine-preventable diseases. We covered measles, mumps and diphtheria in the week 38 measles, mumps and diphtheria report. Punjab did not report in either week.

Whooping cough rose to 58 cases, and AJK sent 42

Suspected pertussis cases rose from 41 to 58 in week 38. AJK reported 42, up from none in week 37. Balochistan reported 8, down from 21. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh reported 4 each. The bulletin lists AJK among the areas where pertussis rose.

Pertussis, also called whooping cough, is a bacterial infection of the airways. The NIH counts these cases through its Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system, called IDSR. Every figure is a suspected case, not a confirmed one. The bulletin does not say why AJK jumped. A small group of reports, or one clinic starting to report, can cause a swing like this.

Meningitis rose to 49 cases, with Sindh at 26

Suspected meningitis cases rose from 42 to 49 in week 38. Sindh reported 26, up from 25. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had 12, up from 11. Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad had 5 each, and Balochistan had 1. AJK had none, down from 2.

Sindh's public health laboratories tested 15 people for meningitis in week 38 and found no positives, against 12 tests and 2 positives in week 37. With so few tests, the laboratory table cannot tell us what caused the suspected cases. The bulletin lists meningitis among the diseases that rose in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chickenpox fell to 167, with 135 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Suspected chickenpox cases fell from 198 to 167 in week 38. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 135, down from 170. Sindh reported 18, up from 8. AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan reported 6 each, Balochistan 2 and Islamabad none.

The NIH's week 37 bulletin explains chickenpox in its knowledge hub. It says the disease is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and causes an itchy rash with fluid-filled blisters. It is usually mild in children, but can be severe in adults, pregnant women, infants and people with weak immune systems. A person can spread it from 1 to 2 days before the rash appears until every blister has dried into a scab.

Know the warning signs of meningitis in a baby and an adult

The World Health Organization (WHO) lists fever, neck stiffness, confusion, headache, sensitivity to light, nausea and vomiting as common meningitis symptoms. In infants, signs include being less active, hard to wake, irritable, feeding poorly, a weak continuous cry or a bulging soft spot on the head.

WHO also describes a skin rash that does not fade when pressed, which can appear with meningococcal sepsis, a bloodstream infection. WHO says meningitis can quickly lead to sepsis. These signs are an emergency, so go to a hospital and do not wait for a test at a clinic.

For whooping cough, the NIH's actions for health departments stress awareness of a prolonged cough and breathing difficulty in infants, and timely care, vaccination and keeping infants away from infected people. For vaccine details in our area, see the childhood vaccination schedule and meningitis and influenza vaccination at Peshawar centres.

1. Take your child's vaccine card to your health centre and compare it with the schedule.
2. Ask about any missed doses, and get them.
3. Keep babies away from people who have a long, hard cough.
4. Go to a hospital at once if a baby is hard to wake, feeds poorly or has a bulging soft spot.
5. Keep a child with chickenpox at home until every blister has scabbed.

Steps 3 and 5 follow the NIH's contact and isolation advice in spirit. We wrote the wording ourselves, so ask your doctor about your own case.

What the numbers cannot tell you

The bulletin counts reports from clinics, not confirmed diagnoses. It does not give districts for these three diseases in the national table, and Punjab is missing. A rise of 17 in pertussis cases is small in a country of this size. It matters most as a signal for the places that sent the reports.

Reporting rates also differ. Sindh had a 100 per cent reporting rate this week and AJK 96 per cent. Islamabad had 70 per cent and Balochistan 71. A place that reports more may simply show more cases. Treat each place's own trend as more useful than a comparison across places.

Common questions

How many whooping cough cases did Pakistan report in week 38?

The NIH counted 58 suspected pertussis cases in week 38 of 2026, up from 41. AJK reported 42 of them.

How many meningitis cases did Pakistan report?

The NIH counted 49 suspected meningitis cases, up from 42. Sindh reported 26 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 12.

Are these confirmed cases?

No. The NIH says all reported cases are suspected. Sindh's labs tested 15 people for meningitis in week 38 and found none positive.

What are the signs of meningitis in a baby?

WHO lists a baby who is less active or hard to wake, irritable, feeding poorly, with a weak continuous cry or a bulging soft spot. Go to a hospital at once if you see these.

How long is chickenpox contagious?

The NIH says a person can spread it from 1 to 2 days before the rash appears until all blisters have dried and formed scabs, usually about 5 to 7 days after the rash starts.

Where did chickenpox cases come from in week 38?

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 135 of the 167 suspected cases. Sindh reported 18.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked on 11 October 2026. We read the NIH's Public Health Bulletin, Pakistan, Week 38, 2026 and the Week 37 bulletin, both listed on the NIH's IDSR weekly reports page. Case counts are from Table 1, laboratory results from Table 5, reporting rates from the compliance table, and chickenpox and pertussis advice from the Week 37 bulletin. Meningitis symptoms are from the WHO meningitis fact sheet.