Turkish experts to combat Congo virus

LAHORE: A team of experts from Turkey shared its experiences on Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) with professors, physicians and health administrators in Punjab in a consultative workshop on CCHF at a local hotel on Thursday.

Due to a higher prevalence of CCHF, Turkey has abundant experience of dealing with the disease with three percent mortality rate, far less than other countries in the world. Given their success, the Punjab government requested the Turkish government to send their experts for experience-sharing sessions with Pakistani professionals.

Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Punjab, Ali Jan Khan and Director General Health Services Dr Mukhtar Hussein Syed addressed the workshop. The secretary said there were sporadic cases of CCHF in the last few years but there was an upsurge in the last two months and in order to prepare for Eid, the government was keen to learn from the experience of Turkey.

Specialist Dr Oner Guner spoke on his long experience in dealing with the patients. Dr Ebru Arydin gave a presentation on CCHF sharing that from 2002 to 2015, Turkey reported 9,787 patients with just over 400 deaths due to the disease.

Dr Dilek Meneminilogo shared process of lab tests and patient care. Dr Asim Altaf, Additional Director CDC Punjab, gave an update on cases in Punjab and the remedial measures taken.

As the CCHF symptoms were very much similar to dengue, the discussion mostly surrounded on issues pertaining to misdiagnosis. The Turkish experts gave valuable suggestions on timely diagnosis and treatment.

Given Turkey’s experience, it was agreed that in wake of Eid-ul-Azha, liaison with Livestock Department will be enhanced and spray at cattle markets be arranged. Dr Oner said preparedness on training, diagnosis, protective measures and implementation of hospital waste management SOPs was the key.