RAWALPINDI, Sept 29: Four female doctors and as many other staff members have contracted the deadly Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF)  virus at the Holy Family Hospital, setting alarm bells ringing in the city and the health department to take preventive measures to avoid further outbreak of the disease.

Doctors at the hospital told Dawn on Wednesday that blood samples of four female doctors, two nurses, one student nurse and a ward boy sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) had been confirmed positive for the infection. The doctors and staff have been shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for treatment.

They said the names of doctors were Sonia, Adeela Naseer, Maryam Kamran and Irum Najeem. The nurses are: Shazia Parveen, Ulfat Parveen, Maryum Noor (student nurse) and Mohammad Mushtaq, ward boy.

The doctors contracted the infection while dealing with two patients - Rasheeda Begum and Taufeeq Ahmed - at the hospital.

Rasheeda was brought to HFH on September 14 and later shifted to Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad. Another CCHF patient, Taufeeq Ahmed, died at Holy Family Hospital on September 24 two days after being admitted there.

The HFH administration had sent the blood samples of its staff members to the NIH as precautionary measures.

Dr Javed Hayyat, who is supervising treatment of the patients, told Dawn that the female doctors were feeling well as there were no symptoms of CCHF; however, the two nurses were suffering from fever. He said according to the report the doctors had contracted the virus during the last 12 days. “No symptoms were developed and the said virus died automatically after two weeks if the patient did not suffer from fever,” he said.

When contacted, HFH Medical Superintendent Capt (retired) Dr Fayyaz confirmed that blood tests on the eights staff members were positive of the Congo fever. “We had sent the blood samples of those dealing with the CCHF patients to NIH and these eight have been tested positive for the viral disease,” he said.

He said only two nurses had developed symptoms; however, the symptoms had not developed in the female house officers.

“After consultation with Rawalpindi Medical College Principal Dr Afzal Farooqui and other senior specialists, we have started the treatment of the patients,” he said.

He said further blood samples of the eight patients had been dispatched to the NIH.

The viral haemorrhagic fever belongs to Zoonotic diseases that animals cause to humans. In Pakistan, the first human outbreak was reported in 1976 at Rawalpindi when Dr Mateen died while treating a patient at the Central General Hospital (now Benazir Bhutto Hospital).

A 25-year-old intern physician, Dr Farzana, also died at Holy Family Hospital in 2002 while treating a Congo fever patient.