Two doctors at Jinnah Hospital have demonstrated suspected signs of the Congo virus, national media reported on Saturday.
A report citing hospital sources said that the two-house officers at Jinnah Hospital had treated a patient for Congo virus the previous week. The patient for Congo virus died on June 19 under treatment at the Sindh Infectious Diseases Hospital.
About this, Jinnah Hospital Executive Director Dr. Shahid Rasool said that both the doctors are having high fever and abdominal pain; one of the house officers is self-isolating at home, while the other is under medical ICU at Jinnah Hospital.
He reported that one of the house officers is exhibiting 90% symptoms of Congo virus. Both doctors became symptomatic the next day after treating the patient. Both doctors’ PCR test samples were sent to the lab, and they expect the Congo virus report on Monday.
He also said that there has been a fever desk installed at the emergency ward of the hospital. The hospital does not have facilities to create a big-scale isolation unit, but it will follow any guidance given by the health department in that regard.
Earlier, Sindh witnessed its first fatality of the year due to the Congo fever when a 42-year-old man in Karachi died after being diagnosed a day before that, according to a statement by the provincial health ministry’s media coordinator on Wednesday.
There is no vaccine for the disease. Experts say that the CCHF virus is spread to humans mainly through tick bites or contact with infected animal blood or tissue at and shortly after slaughter.
