PESHAWAR: A 22-year-old animal handler from the North Waziristan tribal district died of Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) at the Hayatabad Medical Complex here on Tuesday.

He was brought to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in the early hours and breathed his last shortly afterwards.

Officials said that the doctors had dispatched samples from the patient to the Public Health Reference Laboratory (PHRL) at the Khyber Medical University and the testing detected CCHF.

They said that the man remained admitted to a hospital in his area before the doctors referred him to the HMC as his condition deteriorated.

Deputy director (public health) Dr Mussawir Manzoor told Dawn that the province recorded two CCHF cases in April and four in June, but except one, all patients recovered.

He was referred to HMC from Waziristan hospital

“Two of the cases belonged to Peshawar with the history of travelling to the animal market and as many hailed from Karak. All confirmed patients had come into contact with animals,” he said.

Dr Manzoor said that close contacts of all patients were screened, with a few testing negative for the disease.

He said that all patients were involved in “high-risk activities for Congo fever,” as they were either butchers or animal handlers and the department, in collaboration with the livestock department, had carried out sprays in the nearby animal markets after detection of cases before Eidul Azha.

The official said that district health authorities in Karak and North Waziristan were directed to disinfect the animal-populated areas and screen the close contacts of the confirmed people to prevent the spread of the disease to the general population.

“In April, we circulated an advisory to the district health officers and hospital medical superintendents to join hands with the livestock department due to increased interaction between human beings and animals before Eidul Azha,” he said.

According to Dr Manzoor, the department has introduced free courier service to send samples to the PHRL for testing.

Doctors at the hospitals told Dawn that they had recorded Congo fever cases every year because the people didn’t take precautionary measures, while those reaching hospitals survived.

They added that a few deaths were reported in the last three years, mostly butchers or animal traders.

The doctors said that Congo fever was usually transmitted by ticks and through contact with infected animals via blood.

They said that two years ago, a Class-IV employee died after he came into contact with an infected patient at one of the medical teaching institutions.

The doctors said that bites by ticks caused the infection.

“District hospitals should be persuaded to send samples to PHRL where tests are performed free of charge. Before the introduction of this facility at the PHRL, the samples were sent to the Aga Khan University and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre that used to charge Rs15,000 and Rs13,000, respectively, for the test,” a doctor told Dawn.

He said that the number of samples being sent to PHRL was far less than the required, with many feared to lose lives to Congo fever.

The doctor said that district hospitals needed to collect samples from suspected people and send them for free PCRs to the PHRL.

Senior officials at the directorate-general (health services) told Dawn that they had been issuing directives to all hospitals throughout the province to dispatch specimens from the suspected patients to the KMU where the PHRL wasn’t conducting free PCR tests to diagnose Congo, cholera, typhoid, dengue and Covid-19.

They said that the main purpose of the PHRL was to ensure early diagnosis and prevent outbreak of diseases.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2025