RAWALPINDI, March 6: Another Congo-Crimean Haemorrhagic Fever suspect died at the Fauji Foundation Hospital here on Wednesday, hospital sources said.

The sources said Ms Sadiq Jan was admitted to the hospital with symptoms similar to Congo Fever. She was brought to the hospital from Railway Colony, Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, a patient, Ms Mehr Mansha who was reportedly suffering from Asthma, also showed some symptoms of the Congo Fever.

The sources said she had bruises all over her body, therefore, doctors put her in quarantine. However, her heirs got her discharged after pressuring the hospital staff.

Meanwhile, Dr Athar Saeed Dil, the executive director of National Institute of Health (NIH), told Dawn that the final report on blood samples of the Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) suspects dispatched to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), South Africa, was likely to be received in the current week.

The NIH has recently sent 15 blood samples to the NIV, South Africa to confirm whether the recent four deaths in Rawalpindi were occurred due to the CCHF outbreak or any other disease. Dr Dil, however, said paramedical staff of different hospitals in the twin cities had been now trained to handle the outbreak of fatal diseases in future.

About the team, which was sent to the AJK from where the first suspected patient of CCHF had arrived, Dr Dil said the team had returned after visiting AJK districts including Bagh, Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad. “There, the team tried to trace the origin of the disease and also delivered lectures as how to handle such patients in future,” he said.

He recalled that during the years between 1976 to 2002, a total of 192 cases of Congo Fever were reported and out of them, at least 63 had died.

In April 2001, two persons — one each in Islamabad and Peshawar — had died due to contracting CCHF, he said

PPI ADDS: Health authorities have claimed that Congo Virus has been fully controlled in twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad.