Health advisory: K-P health department issues Congo fever alert

Urges the public to be careful during Eidul Azha

PESHAWAR: With an advisory already in effect over dengue owing to the monsoon rains, the provincial health department has issued a fresh alert, over the possibility of the Congo fever spreading during Eidul Azha.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department has warned the public that the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), commonly called Congo fever,  can be transmitted via ‘ticks’, responsible for severe outbreaks in humans but never affect cattle, sheep and goats.

With a significant number of cases reported across K-P every year, the alert stated that the affected districts over the past two years include Peshawar, Karak, Lakki Marwat, and Bannu though cases have been reported from Mansehra and Abbottabad districts as well.

The disease can spread to humans either by tick bites or through contact with disease-infected animal tissues during and immediately after slaughter.

CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services, the advisory noted.

It added that most of the cases took place amongst people involved in the livestock industry, including agricultural workers, slaughterhouse workers, veterinarians or those who have been involved in slaughtering an animal or have been in contact with tissues of the infected animal.

Human-to-human transmission can occur as a result of close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons, it informed, adding that the hospital-acquired infections could also occur due to improper sterilisation of medical equipment, reuse of needles and contamination of medical supplies.

“Contact with animals increases in Eidul Adha where most of the general public is involved in slaughtering or handling of animal tissues or blood,” the alert read, adding, “It is therefore requested to adopt preventive measures to protect yourself from this deadly disease.”

The department advised using Acaricides (pesticides designed for ticks and mites), reducing the risk of tick-to-human transmission, wearing protective clothing (long sleeves, long trousers, trousers tugged in socks when handling animals), light coloured clothing to allow easy detection of ticks, using approved chemicals intended to kill ticks, approved repellent on the skin and clothing, regularly examining clothing and skin for ticks.

“If found, remove them safely and never touch or crush the tick with bare hands besides do not try to remove the tick with your fingers,” it shared adding people must avoid areas where the ticks were in abundance and seasons when they were most active.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2018.