‘Not all fever is caused by dengue, Congo viruses’

Seminar held at PIMS to create awareness about difference in symptoms, treatment, cause and spread of congo, dengue.

ISLAMABAD: Health experts held a seminar at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Saturday to create awareness about the difference in the symptoms, treatment, cause and spread of Congo virus and dengue fever parasite.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rubina Kamran, senior pathologist of Pims, said that they were receiving 60 to 80 suspected dengue patients every day in the hospital’s emergency ward. “A patient with even mild fever considers himself as a patient of dengue or Congo fever,” she said.

Speaking about the spread of dengue virus, she said it is basically spread through an infected female mosquito called Aedes Aegypti while Congo fever virus is spread by an external parasite that is found on the skin of cattle.

She said that symptoms of both diseases are similar but dengue fever is not as dangerous as Congo fever and its mortality rate is very low.

The outbreak season of dengue is after monsoon while Congo fever virus spreads throughout the year. Congo fever is a communicable disease and spreads from one infected person to another through blood or secretion. Dengue fever, however, is spread only through an infected mosquito.

“A major difference is that dengue fever patients need to be kept away from mosquitoes. A Congo fever patient needs to be kept away from other people,” she said.

Treatment and prevention

Dr Kamran said that to control dengue fever, one must protect oneself from mosquito bites.

For treating a patient suspected of dengue fever, doctors require information on mosquito bites while for diagnosis of Congo fever virus, information on exposure of blood is required.

She said that Congo fever virus requires a more aggressive medicine regimen than dengue fever, adding that there is more bleeding in urine and stool, more drowsiness, and even coma.

A patient suffering from Congo fever requires plasma injections as blood cognitive factor is affected, while a dengue fever patient requires platelet injections as white blood cells are affected.

A Congo fever patient’s life is at risk, while a dengue fever patient takes less time to recover. Congo patients need anti-viral drugs which are not given to dengue fever patients.

Resources

Dr Anwarul Haq, head of the Pims pathology department, said that there was a shortage of staff and modern equipment. He said that the hospital’s blood bank had only three beds and there was no separate room for women.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2010.