KARACHI: The provincial health authorities have sent an alert over the dangers of the Congo-Crimean haemorrhagic fever ahead of Eidul Azha asking all relevant authorities to take measures to save millions of people in the teeming metropolis from the deadly disease that has begun afflicting people already and killed over a dozen in the past couple of years, officials said on Sunday.

In a directive, the government asked the authorities concerned to specify points for inspection of animals away from the populous localities and proper sites be allocated for animal markets.

As a part of preventive measures on the part of the government, the city’s health-care authorities have asked the veterinary department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to make sure that no infected animal is allowed to enter city animal markets.

“This is one of the many measures we are taking to stop the lethality of the disease and ensure no further loss of life in future,” said a senior official.

Officials said the authorities were told to inspect animals at the toll plaza in Karachi or at the entry points of every other city of Sindh.

In Karachi, the municipal authorities have been asked to ensure proper sanitation at the site of animal markets and make available proper supply of drinking water.

“Water should be stored and covered properly and veterinary camps be placed prominently with inspecting officials wearing gloves,” said the directive.

The KMC asked the visitors to the markets to wear clothes with light colours so that infected ticks from animals could be spotted easily.

All the municipal bodies in the city have been advised to fumigate animal markets before and during Eid days. Besides, butchers should also use gloves and should not come in contact with the blood of animals.

Officials said every CCHF victim caught the viral disease through the bite of an infected tick found on animals.

Those infections are also associated with slaughtering of infected animals and from contaminated needle-sticks, etc.

They said those dealing with dairy farming, livestock, medical personnel, veterinarians, and abattoir workers (butchers) were likely to catch the deadly virus and there was no vaccine available to prevent people from falling victim.

Weeks before Eidul Azha, the city is set to get dotted with dozens of markets, where animals from across the country would be put on sale.

What the authorities fear is that not just those whose profession gets them in contact with the animals, but hundreds of thousands of people visiting the markets are equally at risk from infected animals in the markets.

Experts said the infection’s fatality rate was up to 50 per cent. In certain cases, infections are common after exposure to infected blood and secretions. The experts say in some rare cases across the world the disease was reported to be spread from one human to another.

The experts say mammals, including hares, rodents, and birds have been implicated as reservoirs of CCHFV. However, it is believed that they are more likely to be amplifier hosts rather than true reservoirs.

The disease got its name after it was first described in Crimea in 1944 and later found in Congo caused by the same pathogen.

Meanwhile, officials in the KMC said their veterinary department and cantonment boards in the city had decided that they would not allow setting up of makeshift sacrificial animal markets in the city to those who had not acquired the no-objection certificates from the KMC.

The officials said it was part of the plan to put checks on the sale of sick farm animals, which, otherwise, were sold unchecked.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2017