ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province on Sunday issued a red alert over the spread of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) across the province after a doctor died, an official statement said.
Chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Ali Mardan Domki, directed the province’s health and livestock departments to take immediate action to curb the disease, which has claimed 16 lives.
The chief minister instructed the general public’s awareness be raised and farmers to have anti-virus spray at dairy farms.
The official also directed hospitals to be vigilant of the infected, and patients should be provided emergency medical guidance.
The deceased doctor was working at the Civil Hospital of the provincial capital city of Quetta and had been diagnosed with the disease after showing symptoms three days ago.
Talking to Xinhua, a spokesperson of the hospital, Waseem Baig, said that over a dozen doctors and medical staff of the intensive care unit of the hospital, including the deceased doctor, had been diagnosed with the disease and seven serious patients were transferred to a hospital in Karachi.
The CCHF fever is a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus of the Bunyaviridae family. It can be transmitted among humans through close contact with infected blood or bodily fluids, according to the World Health Organisation. It has a fatality ratio of 10 to 40 per cent. -Bernama
