RAWALPINDI: A suspected Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) patient has arrived at the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) from Attock.

Saeed Ahmed was brought to HFH presenting symptoms of CCHF, but test results from the National Institute of Health (NIH) are still pending.

Mr Ahmed travelled to Attock from Saudi Arabia to attend a wedding, where he came down with a fever. His relatives then took him to a local hospital, where the doctors referred him to the HFH.

A senior HFH doctor told Dawn that the hospital received two suspects presenting with CCHF symptoms from Attock and Azad Kashmir.

“Sarfraz Ahmed, 16, was brought to the hospital with fever. We sent his blood samples to the NIH for serology, but the report was negative,” he said.

He said the report for the patient from Attock is still awaited, and it can take three to four days to complete the test. He said the patient was moved to an isolation ward, and his relatives were being kept under watch.

The doctor also said the condition of Ulfat Khan, a CCHF patient from Choa Syedan Shah in Chakwal, was stable. He said Mr Khan is “out of danger at present” but would remain in the hospital “under surveillance by senior doctors”.

Meanwhile, the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has not taken measures to prevent the spread of CCHF after the virus was detected in cattle in the nearby Chakwal district and after a patient arrived from Attock.

The movement of cattle in the district is not being monitored, and neither are slaughterhouses on Railway Road or in Sihala. “No team has been formed to check cattle pens within the city limits, and pen owners keep the animals in dirty conditions,” a senior official from the agriculture department said.

Cattle pens have been set up at Banni Chowk, Chungi No.22, Bakra Mandi, Dhoke Syedan, Ch Bostan Khan Road from Chakala Scheme-III to the Lahore High Court, Channi Sher Alam, Gujar Khan and Taxila.

The post of executive district officer (EDO) agriculture has been vacant for a few days, after the previous EDO was transferred to Sahiwal.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2016