HARIPUR: A local factory worker died of high grade-fever with the family blaming death on Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.

Another villager also tested positive for CCHF.

According to family sources, Rabnawaz, 45, a resident of Hattar village, had suffered from high grade-fever for around a week, while he was treated at a local private hospital as a dengue patient. The man was later shifted to Islamabad’s PIMS hospital, where he died. The family claimed that the PIMS doctors suspected its member suffered from Congo fever.

However, the health department rejected the claim.

Also, Mir Afzal, a 60-year-old resident of Bandi Muneem village, was admitted to Pims, Islamabad, tested positive for CCHF.

The doctors said the patient’s condition was improving.

When contacted, Dr Sher Bahadur, head of the dengue programme at the Haripur DHO office, said a team of doctors had visited the house of Rabnawaz and found out that he had died of blood cancer and pneumonia and not CCHF.

He said the team also visited the house of Mir Afzal and found him to be a patient of CCHF. Dr Bahadur said Mir Afzal was a farmer, who used to have direct contact with farm animals, so he got the infection after tick bite.

TWO KILLED: A woman and her former husband have allegedly gunned down a health department employee here on Tuesday. The police said the reason for the murder was not known.

HELD: The anti-corruption establishment arrested assistant director of the fisheries department, Haripur, Jan Nisar over corruption. The arrest comes on the complaint of complaint of Tarbela lake fishing contractor Mohammad Rafiq Khan.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2019