RAWALPINDI, Oct 1: A man suspected of suffering from Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) was admitted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) on Friday, hospital authorities said.

Mohammad Rafiq, a resident of Plundari, Azad Kashmir, reported at the emergency department of the RGH in the wee hours of Friday and was admitted to Medical Unit 2. Doctor Bushra, Professor of Medicine and head of Department of Medicine, RGH, told this reporter that the clinical symptoms were pointing towards the possibility of CCHF.

Besides bruises on different parts of the body, the doctor said, the patient was bleeding and had high fever. She said the patient had been shifted into an isolated room and his blood samples had been sent to the National Institute of Health for analysis.

A source in the hospital said when Mohammad Rafiq arrived at the hospital and his symptoms started matching with those of the CCHF patient, the doctors and paramedics avoided him and some flatly refused to attend him for fear of exposure.