KARACHI: A patient, who tested positive for Congo virus was admitted to the Sindh Infectious Disease Hospital and Research Centre late on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The 32-year-old patient, the first Congo fever case of this year, was initially reported at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi on Tuesday from where he was sent to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) earlier in the day.

“He is in critical condition. We have shifted him to a specialised hospital meant for infectious diseases where he would receive good care,” explained JPMC’s Deputy Executive Director Dr Yahya Tunio.

The patient was a butcher by profession, he added.

The Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), or Congo fever, is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks. It can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately after the slaughter of animals.

The disease has a case fatality rate of up to 40 per cent. There is no vaccine available for either people or animals.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2024