Sindh Health Department has launched a comprehensive awareness drive across Karachi to prevent and control Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) better known in Pakistan as the Congo virus during upcoming Eid-ul-Azha days.
Director Health Services, Karachi, Dr Muhammad Taufiq, talking to agencies, claimed that an awareness campaign about Congo had been launched in different parts of the city under the supervision of Health Department Sindh. He said that the District Health Officers were distributing pamphlets among the masses, while banners were also placed at different sites of the city to create awareness among the general public.
He explained that the objective of the awareness drive was to sensitize healthcare authorities to further strengthen and improve the level of watchfulness in prevention and control of CCHF. Taufiq said Congo viral fever is a deadly disease that spreads through tick-bites found on animals. He said the people who deal with dairy farming and livestock were highly likely to get infected and carry the virus.
He said: “As a Congo infected person can infect other people; therefore, precautionary measures are necessary for people who deal with livestock. Numerous wild and domestic animals, such as cattle, buffaloes, goats and sheep are silent carriers of this virus and the adult ticks feed on these animals.”
He said CCHF virus transmits to people either by tick bite or through contact with infected blood or tissues of the infected animals during or immediately after slaughter. He said public health workers along with animal herders, veterinarians, para-veterinary staff, livestock workers, animal merchants, butchers and slaughterhouse workers were at risk of the disease.
He said medical camps had also been established in cattle markets to provide first aid and treatment facilities to visitors and cattle handlers. He said medicines would also be provided to patients in medical camps. He said fumigation around the cattle markets was the responsibility of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
Dr Taufiq said there was currently no vaccine available for humans and the only way to reduce the infection was by raising awareness. He advised the citizens to adopt precautionary measures like wearing gloves and other protective clothing while handling animals during slaughtering, butchering and culling procedures in slaughterhouses or at home.
Earlier, National Institute of Health (NIH) had also issued an advisory for prevention and control of Congo fever for upcoming Eid-ul-Azha, saying as there was no vaccine for the disease. In 2016, Congo claimed 10 lives in Karachi out of which four belonged to Karachi, two each from Bahawalpur and Afghanistan, one from Hyderabad and one hailed from elsewhere in Sindh. However, 75 other patients were also diagnosed in Karachi last year, who luckily survived.