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.
The WHO says that the Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), also referred to as Congo Virus, has severe viral hemorrhagic fever epidemics with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent.
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.
In April, the National Institute of Health (NIH) issued an advisory calling for prevention of Congo fever in preparation for Eidul Azha.
The 42-year-old male, a resident of District Malir, was brought to Indus Hospital in Korangi, where he was tested positive for CCHF on June 16, Media coordinator for the health ministry of Sindh, Meeran Yousuf said.
The patient died the following day. A team of health professionals went to his home but found his door locked.
Talking to Dawn.com, Yousuf added, “The team presumed that the family removed the body for burial at their home place somewhere.”
The disease spreads through human-to-human contact, said the WHO, by close proximity with the blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected individuals.
Sudden onset of the symptoms, including fever, muscle pain, dizziness, neck stiffness and pain, backache, headache, sore eyes and light sensitivity.
On Tuesday, a 22-year-old North Waziristan tribal district animal handler succumbed to CCHF at the Hayatabad Medical Complex.
The disease first appeared in Pakistan in 1976 when a surgeon and three healthcare professionals died after they were infected by a patient.
