KARACHI, June 21: Two private hospitals of the city received one patient each with confirmed Congo Crimean viral haemorrhagic fever, both from Balochistan, during the last one month, one of whom died.In addition, another 10 patients of suspected haemorrhagic fever have been admitted to the hospitals in question on Tuesday and Wednesday, said senior doctors.

Talking to Dawn, a consultant of infectious disease at the Liaquat National Hospital, Dr Farheen Ali, said the hospital had received 35 patients during the last two months, with a history of prolonged fever and bleeding from mouth, nose and teeth, head and body aching, out of which 30 were found confirmed dengue viral-infected cases.

She said that all but one dengue viral patients were discharged after proper treatment during the last many days, and as such, she said that things were not very much alarming but all manageable.

“We can attribute the viral infection to the changing season, untidy surroundings of patients and mosquitoes,” she said.

A 13-year-old boy from Karachi, with confirmed dengue fever, died at the hospital last week, she added.

Dr Farheen said that a majority of the suspected viral fever patients, including women, belonged from different localities of Karachi, while a couple of them were also brought from outside Karachi.

She further informed that some patients admitted to the LNH late Tuesday night were yet to be examined, but obviously there was no sign of any potential viral infection.

She clarified that the hospital at present was not having any confirmed Congo Crimean viral patient.

When contacted, the Medical Director at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Dr Farhat Abbas, said his hospital had received a positive Congo Crimean case from Balochistan, a fruit merchant aged 55, on June 14, who failed to survive and died on June 20.

The death was the first of its kind at the AKU in recent days, he added, saying that during the last spell of viral haemorrhagic fever late last year, the hospital had admitted a Congo virus positive female patient, who recovered after treatment.

He further said that as many as six patients, all from Karachi, were brought and admitted to the AKU with fever and rashes on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were yet to be clinically tested for dengue or Congo viruses, he added.

“However, we are taking all preventive measures and the patients in question, whose ages ranged from six to 40 years, were being well monitored.”

Another senior consultant of the LNH, Dr Nasim Salahuddin, who is also the president of the Infectious Disease Society, said that a male patient of Congo Crimean virus from Balochistan was discharged from the LNH after full recovery over a week back.

“He was brought in a severe condition, with bleeding from his nose, mouth and rectum, but was now good in health. He visited the hospital recently for a check up and was found fit,” she added.

She said that another patient with profuse bleeding and other symptoms of haemorrhagic fever was brought to the LNH on Tuesday night from an area between the borders of Balochistan and Iran. However, it will take another couple of days to diagnose the disease, she added.

Replying to a question, she said that cases of Congo-Crimean and Dengue looked alike and could be diagnosed only after laboratory tests. “We go for a Congo viral test only after a patient is found infected with dengue virus,” she clarified.

She noted that obviously there was no need to panic, as the number of patients suspected of haemorrhagic fever was not of any extraordinary proportion. However, the matter of fever and bleeding in patients at any stage should not be ignored, she advised.

Referring to the increase in dengue positive cases in the city, experts said that it was a mosquito-borne infection.

There are four distinct, but closely related viruses that cause dengue. The only way to prevent Dengue is to eliminate mosquitoes.

About the Congo Crimean viral fever, it was said that it was caused by the bite of a tick that resided in the skin of cattle.

An outbreak of Congo fever was reported at Quetta in the 1970s killing doctors and other medical staff operating on patients with fever and bleeding from the stomach.