CHAKWAL: Vets have warned citizens purchasing sacrificial animals for Eidul Azha to remain extra cautious while exposing themselves to animals as during the monsoon season risks of tick-borne diseases are high.

“The ticks stuck to cattle’s skin are highly active in monsoon due to moisture coupled with humidity and gnawing heat,” Livestock and Dairy Development Department Additional Director Dr Sarfraz Ahmed Chatha told Dawn.

“Ticks cause a number of diseases but most deadly one is the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF),” Dr Sarfraz Ahmed Chatha said.

Pakistan is among those countries grappling with the recurring outbreaks of CCHF which claimed 16 lives in Karachi alone last year while more than 40 people got infected. This year six people have lost their lives due to CCHF in the country.

The Punjab government has directed the authorities concerned in every district to spray sacrificial animals with tick repellent before being taken to the cattle markets.

Vet says during monsoon season risk of tick-borne diseases increases

They have been asked to set up pickets at the entrances of the cities in this regard.

The Sindh government has also issued a similar advisory.

“Instead of getting panicked we should be aware of CCHF and other tick-borne diseases,” Dr Sarfraz Ahmed Chatha said.

He said CCHF was first reported in Crimea in 1944 and was named as Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever.

The disease was reported in 1956 in Congo as well and it was established that the pathogen which caused Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever was the same which caused an outbreak in Congo. Thus this disease was renamed as Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever.

He said although ticks of different species were capable of getting infected with CCHF virus, the vectors for CCHF are ticks of Hyalomma genus.

Dr Sarfraz said shepherds, livestock workers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians were more vulnerable to CCHF and other tick-borne diseases.

“The CCHF may infect a wide range of domestic and wild animals. Although many birds are resistant to infection, ostriches are susceptible and may show high prevalence of infection in endemic areas,” he adds.

According to Dr. Sarfraz, animals bitten by infected ticks do not develop CCHF but the virus can circulate in their blood for a few days and afterward they become immune to further infection. “Non-infected ticks become infected if they feed on the animals during the short period when virus is circulating in their blood,” he explained.

He said that CCHF could be transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals or ticks while the CCHF was also transmitted from one infected human to another through blood or body fluids.

“The onset of CCHF is sudden with initial signs and symptoms including headache, high fever, backache, joint and stomach pain and vomiting. The infected patient also bleeds through skin and nose,” Dr Sarfraz explained.

He also stressed the need for developing and upgrading existing diagnosis facilities for tick-borne diseases.

He urged the farmers to control ticks by spraying animals with tick repellent and by planting certain plants like Akk and Moringa. “Many rodents and birds are also useful in this regard as they prey on ticks,” he said.

Chakwal district has witnessed CCHF cases in the recent past. According to Health Department of Chakwal, since 2013 eight cases of CCHF were reported from Chakwal district out of which two lost their lives. “Recently two patients were diagnosed with tick-borne diseases,” District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Khalid Hassan told Dawn.

He said both patients were going through tests.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2019