KARACHI: A Congo fever patient recently admitted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) is getting better, hospital sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

Eighteen-year-old Farooq had come from Quetta and was residing in Landhi. Initially, the sources said, he reported at a private hospital but had to leave the facility as he couldn’t afford the treatment there.

He reported at the JPMC emergency section on Tuesday with fever, bleeding from nose and oral cavity and low platelet count.

“His bleeding has stopped and condition is improving,” said JPMC executive director Dr Seemin Jamali, adding that the young boy was a butcher and tested positive for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).

According to her, it is the second CCHF case reported at the hospital within two months. “He, too, was young and had come from Quetta but had no history of contact/s with animals. Thankfully, he recovered,” Dr Jamali said.

Cases of CCHF, she said, were usually reported during the period of Eidul Azha when sacrificial animals arrived in the city in large numbers.

“There is a need to ensure animal hygiene and vaccination that would definitely help in preventing CCHF. Besides, people engaged in any business related to animals or animal hides should wear protective gadgets to protect against ticks,” she said.

The JPMC received a few CCHF cases last year. In 2016, however, the facility received 12 cases, of them five patients died.

According to media reports, two persons have died of CCHF this year in the country so far including a middle aged woman from Mianwali, who died at a private hospital in Islamabad in April. While a 36-year-old resident of Lyari passed away at a private hospital in Karachi in May.

A viral haemorrhagic fever transmitted by ticks, CCHF spreads to humans either by tick-bite, or through contact with animal tissues during and immediately post-slaughter.

CCHF outbreaks, experts say, constitute a threat to public health services because of its epidemic potential, its high case fatality ratio (10-40pc) and the difficulties in treatment and prevention.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2018