MULTAN: According to Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman, spokesperson for the Health Department; till now a total of 90 recorded cases of chickenpox have been reported this year in Multan. Dr Atta-ur-Rehman revealed on Wednesday that, in the past 24 hours as many as 7 cases have been reported in the past 24 hours and added that a total of 23 cases have emerged in the last three days. What’s even more alarming is that the patients seem to be not surviving the common disease as one of the chickenpox patients, from Dera Ghazi Khan, also passed away, said Dr Atta-ur-Rehman. Chicken pox, a seemingly harmless disease is a viral infection that leads to the patient’s body being covered by itchy, fluid-filled blisters that cause a certain amount of discomfort, followed by a fever. People that have not contracted the disease before or have not been vaccinated to prevent it are very likely to contract it at least once over the span of their lives. The viral outbreak could become an increasing threat for the lives of the people in the area affected by it, in parts of Punjab. To aid the battle against a potential nationwide outbreak, the Health department at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital has dedicated an entire ward to chickenpox patients.