Three more tested positive for Congo virus

KARACHI: Three more patients, including a teenager, tested positive for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo virus, in Karachi on Sunday, who are being treated at isolations wards at various public and private hospitals in Karachi, health officials said.

“Hamza Burfat, a 46-year-old resident of Lasi Goth in New Karachi, was brought to Civil Hospital Karachi on Saturday on the complaints of blood from nose and mouth and other symptoms. On the suspicion of him being infected with Congo virus, he was kept in isolation and his samples were sent for analysis, which tested positive for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF),” said Dr Khadim Hussain Qureshi, the medical superintendent of Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) as he spoke to The News on Sunday.

He added that another patient, who was identified as 40-year-old Nawab Ali, a resident of Khamiso Goth New Karachi, was also brought to the hospital with internal and external bleeding and other symptoms. He was kept in isolation and his medical tests also confirmed that he had contracted Congo virus.

Dr Qureshi said the history of both the patients revealed that they had interacted with animals during Eidul Azha and most probably contracted the tick-borne disease from sacrificial animals.

On the other hand, the Sindh health department officials said a 17-year old boy, Qamar Shah, a resident of Sohrab Goth and a worker at a cattle farm, had also tested positive for CCHF and was being treated at Ziauddin Hospital in North Nazimabad.

According to the health department officials, so far 26 people tested positive for CCHF in 2019 in Karachi alone of whom, 10 patients died. Currently, four patients are still under treatment at various hospitals in the city.

The officials said at least nine CCHF patients were brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.