Doctors and health officials in Bamyan have reported an outbreak of a contagious skin disease known as chickenpox in various parts of the province.

According to the health officials in the Bamyan Infectious Diseases Hospital, the disease has spread mostly among children and teenagers, and home care is the only way to prevent infection, they said.

"Initially ... It causes skin irritation and lesions, and if there's a secondary intervention, it affects the throat ... and sometimes chest and axillary conditions occur in the patient," Froghuddin Amiri, the head of Bamyan's infectious diseases hospital, told TOLOnews.

"The cause of this disease is a virus; an RNA virus. The disease is transmitted through skin contact and respiratory secretions," said Ehsanullah Anwari, a dermatologist at the hospital.

Khadem Hussein, a resident of the Shahidan area in Bamyan who came to the hospital for treatment of this disease, says it is increasing among people in his village.

"It has been five days since I contracted this disease, and it was transmitted to me by someone else because it is contagious," Khadim Hussein said.

Jafar Zaki, the head of public health in Bamyan, says that this disease damages the skin and in some cases can also cause the death of children.

According to Jafar Zaki, there is no vaccine for this skin virus in Afghanistan, and home care is the only way to prevent contracting the disease.

"So far, the vaccine for this disease has not arrived in Afghanistan; however, it exists in the neighboring countries of Afghanistan. Because unfortunately there is no vaccine in Afghanistan, the disease has spread," he added.

Previously, physicians in this province also reported outbreaks of pneumonia and measles among children in the center and districts of Bamyan.