Second Congo virus patient dies at PIMS

September 14, 2013 – Updated 620 PKT
From Web Edition

ISLAMABAD: Another Congo virus patient, identified as Muhamamd Yousuf died in Islamabad on Saturday, brining the death toll at two, Geo News reported.

Hospital sources said Muhammad Yousaf, 60, and sons Arif Khan, 28, and Shiraz Ahmad, 21, were shifted from Combined Military Hospital in Abbottabad first to Military Hospital in Rawalpindi and then to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on September 11 (Wednesday) in critical condition, where Shiraz died two days back.

Yousuf died on late Friday night.

The second son of the deceased is under treatment at PIMS.

 

Congo patient from Abbottabad dies at PIMS

Our correspondent
Friday, September 13, 2013
From Print Edition

A man from Abbottabad [Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province] has died of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), while his father and brother have been admitted to the hospital after succumbing to the same tick-borne zoonotic viral disease.

One of the deceased’s brothers had already lost his life to CCHF, which, according to World Health Organisation [WHO], has a high fatality rate (10-40 per cent). They all are butchers by profession. Dr Ayesha Isani Majeed, spokesperson for PIMS, told ‘The (International) News’ on Thursday [12 Sep 2013] that a 60-year-old man and his 21- and 28-year-old sons had been moved from the Combined Military Hospital in Abbottabad, 1st to the Military Hospital in Rawalpindi and then to the PIMS on Wednesday [11 Sep 2013] in critical condition. Dr Majeed said that the 3 were found to be infected with CCHF [virus] and immediately admitted to an isolation ward and given antiviral treatment (Ribavirin tablets) without delay. “[The 21-year-old] breathed his last at 11:35 p.m. (Wednesday, 11 Sep 2013) despite all resuscitative measures, while the 60-year-old father and his 28-year-old other son were shifted to an intensive care unit, where they are receiving the best possible treatment,” she said.

Earlier this year [2013], the PIMS treated 2 other CCHF patients, a local woman and a man from Saudi Arabia.

According to a WHO expert, CCHF is a viral haemorrhagic fever transmitted by ticks; it can be responsible for severe outbreaks in humans, but it is not pathogenic for ruminants, their amplifying host. “CCHF spreads to humans either by tick-bites, or through contact with viraemic animal tissues during and immediately post-slaughter.” The WHO expert said that CCHF outbreaks constituted a threat to public health services because of its epidemic potential, its high case fatality ratio (10-40 per cent), its potential for nosocomial outbreaks and the difficulties in treatment and prevention. He said CCHF was endemic in all of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia.