Congo fever claims another life within a fortnight

Karachi: A 65-year-old man died of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) at a private hospital on Thursday, becoming the second victim in two weeks.

The Sindh government’s focal person confirmed the death of Abdul Hakeem, who hailed from Afghanistan and had been under treatment at the hospital.

With his death, the number of the victims of Congo fever in the city had risen to four this year, he said.

On July 30 , Dr Sagheer Ahmed, a general surgeon from the Victoria Hospital in Bahawalpur, died of this fever at the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi, while another doctor from the same hospital was treated there.

Dr Ahmed  had contracted the disease while treating a female patient. Two other doctors, Dr Owais and Dr Alam, also fell ill treating her.

The patient, a fourth-year medical student, died during treatment while the three doctors who supervised her treatment fell sick and were admitted to the AKUH on July 28.

Dr Zafar Mehdi, the focal person for Naegleria fowleri and other infectious diseases at the Sindh health department, said Dr Ahmed was diagnosed positive for CCHF and he had passed away July 30.

“Dr Sagheer and the two other doctors had operated on the patient around 10 days ago,” he added.

The CCHF is a deadly disease caused by a virus that is carried by a tick or parasite that lives on cattle and other animals. Any contact of humans with the tick present on the skin of the livestock or animals results in an infection. The infected person can then infect other people.

The CCHF cases in Pakistan are commonly reported in Balochistan where livestock traders and their handlers often contract the disease from their animals but recently there have been several cases in Karachi. It is perhaps for the first time in recent years that a CCHF case from lower Punjab has been reported.

The national health ministry has asked both the Punjab and Sindh health departments to stay vigilant as the disease was extremely dangerous and had a 90 to 95 mortality rate.