KARACHI, Nov 28: Renowned virologist and course director, clinical laboratory at St. George’s University, Grenada West Indies, Dr Ateef Qureshi on Monday asked people to keep personal and environmental hygiene and avoid contacting body fluids of patients suffering from viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) to avoid getting infected.

Talking to PPI at the University of Karachi after a seminar, he said all kinds of rodents, mosquitoes and ticks were the major sources of spreading haemorrhagic fevers, which were a group of febrile illnesses caused by RNA viruses from several viral families.

“These highly infectious viruses lead to a potentially lethal disease syndrome characterized by fever, malaise, vomiting, mucosal and gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, edema, and hypotension” he informed adding that four viral families known to cause the VHF disease in humans include the Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Filoviridae, and Flaviviridae.

According to Dr Qureshi, preventing VHFs, especially in the developing nations, presents enormous challenges as many of the social, economic and ecological factors contribute to the sudden appearance and spread of infectious diseases, including destruction of habitat, lack of sanitation and proper medical care.

Regarding vaccination and treatment, he said no vaccines were available against most of the VHFs except for yellow fever and Argentine haemorrhagic fever while preparation of genetic vaccine against Dengue virus was in the final stage but it would take time to get marketed.

As far as treatment is concerned, anti-viral and symptomatic drugs are used to treat patients suffering from haemorrhagic fevers but they are not as much affective as drugs like antibiotics against bacterial infections, Dr Qureshi said adding that people should take precautionary measures to prevent themselves from mosquitoes.

He said trash should be stored in rodent-proof containers.—PPI