Deadly disease: Congo fever claims another life

Victim was among the five people brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex in the last two weeks

PESHAWAR:

Sharifullah Khan, 30, was among the five people brought to Hayatabad Medical Complex in the last two weeks after exhibiting signs of the deadly Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. He died on Friday, a day after arriving at the hospital from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The test report of Shafiullah’s blood sample has not yet been received from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, but doctors at the hospital said he showed symptoms of the virus.

“Five patients were brought to the hospital within a period of two weeks after Eidul Azha,” HMC’s spokesperson Dr Wali Rehman told The Express Tribune. “Two patients are from Bannu while the others belonged to different parts of Afghanistan.”

Of the four patients currently at the hospital, Tariq Khan, 35, was brought to the hospital from Bannu on October 14. His blood sample was sent to NIH and on Friday he tested positive for the virus. The test reports of the other three patients— Qasim and Maiwand from Afghanistan and Shahid Khan from Bannu—have yet to be received.



Dr Rehman said 19 patients suffering from the Congo virus have so far been brought to the HMC this year. Of these, seven have died. He added 10-15 days after Eidul Azha are crucial as people are more prone to contracting the fever. The virus, he said, can be transmitted to humans if they are bitten by an infected tick or if a slaughtered animal’s blood makes contact with a cut on their skin. The virus is most active from June to September after which it starts dying out due to cold weather.

Dr Rehman said four private rooms at the HMC have been marked as isolation units for infected patients. Any person who is brought to the casualty department with symptoms of Congo fever is directly shifted to the isolation ward. Equipment for protection of hospital staff has also been provided and no one is allowed to visit the isolation ward without gowns, gloves and masks, said the HMC spokesperson.

Dr Rehman shared that in 2013, six patients testing positive for the virus were admitted to the hospital. Two were from Afghanistan, two from Khyber Agency and one each from Waziristan and Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2014.