Published Date: 2004-05-12 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/EDR> Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (Baluchistan): suspected
Archive Number: 20040512.1279
CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER - PAKISTAN (BALUCHISTAN): SUSPECTED
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Tue 11 May 2004
From: Alfonso Rodriguez <arodriguezm@SaludFMV.org>
Source: IntelliHealth News, Tue 11 May 2004 [edited]
<http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/333/341/382426.html>
Pakistan: 3 die of suspected Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
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Hospitals in a southwestern Pakistan province have been put on high alert
after 3 people from one family died of suspected Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic
fever (CCHF), health officials said. Sher Mohammed, a WHO official in the
southwestern city of Quetta -- where the 3 died on Mon 10 May 2004 at a
state-run hospital, -- said the U.N. health agency had provided local
authorities with medicine to fight the contagious disease. "We believe the
patients who died were affected by CCHF virus," he said.
The disease is spread by ticks from livestock and can be transmitted by
infected people through their blood, saliva or droplets from sneezing. The
3 patients -- a 50-year-old butcher, his 45-year-old wife and their
13-year-old son -- had been admitted to Fatima Jinnah General and Chest
Hospital 4 days ago. They came from an outlying town. They had shown
symptoms of the disease, including bleeding from the nose and mouth, but
laboratory tests on blood samples were pending to confirm the diagnosis,
said Tariq Iqbal Khoso, the hospital medical superintendent. Khoso said a
35-year-old man from another town was being treated at the hospital with
similar symptoms.
"We have put hospitals in the province on high alert. We have set up an
isolated ward at the Fatima Jinnah General and Chest Hospital," said Pir
Mohammed Khawaja, Director General of the Baluchistan Provincial Health
Services Department. Doctors have been sent to the 3 dead patients'
hometown of Qilla Saifullah, about 175 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of
Quetta, to investigate whether any more people have been infected,
officials said.
WHO's Mohammed said that the disease has occurred in the region before,
claiming 38 lives since 2001 in outbreaks at Loralai, a town near Qilla
Saifullah. The virus that causes CCHF is transmitted by _Hyalomma
marginata_ ticks, which thrive on sheep and cattle. The disease is found
throughout Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[CCHF is endemic in this region. The causative agent is a bunyavirus
belonging to the genus _Nairovirus_. CCHF virus is transmitted from cattle
and sheep to humans via a tick vector and can spread also from person to
person via infected blood. Cases usually occur singly among shepherds or
among small groups of individuals in contact with livestock or animal
products. Occasionally, clusters of cases occur as a result of nosocomial
transmission in hospitals. Mortality can be as high as 40 percent in
extreme situations but is normally in the region of 15 percent. The
distribution of CCHF follows that of the principal tick vector (_Hyalomma _
spp.), and CCHF is maintained both by alternation between mammalian hosts
and ticks and by vertical transmission in ticks. - Mod.CP]
See Also
2003----
Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan: suspected 20030228.0498
Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan: suspected (02) 20030301.0507
2002
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Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - Pakistan 20020228.3643
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever - Pakistan (02) 20020313.37352001
2001
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Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (Baluchistan) 20010531.1071
Crimean-Congo HF, confirmed - Pakistan (NW Frontier) 20010424.0800
Crimean-Congo HF, suspected - Pakistan (NW Frontier) 20010404.0674
Crimean-Congo HF, suspected - Pakistan (NW Front.)(02) 20010331.0652
Crimean-Congo HF - Afghanistan, Pakistan 20011004.2409
Crimean-Congo HF - Afghanistan, Pakistan (02) 20011010.2467
Crimean-Congo HF - Afghanistan, Pakistan (03) 20011011.2479
2000
----
Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (Baluchistan) 20000925.1651
Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (Baluchistan) (07) 20001122.2027
....................cp/msp/mpp
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