{"id":23695,"date":"2023-11-12T00:10:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/rise-in-congo-fever-deaths-sparks-fears-in-sindh\/"},"modified":"2023-11-12T00:10:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-12T00:10:59","slug":"rise-in-congo-fever-deaths-sparks-fears-in-sindh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/rise-in-congo-fever-deaths-sparks-fears-in-sindh\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise in Congo fever deaths sparks fears in Sindh"},"content":{"rendered":"
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KARACHI: Frequent deaths of patients from Congo fever has set alarm bells ringing in the power corridors of Sindh as provincial authorities on Friday ordered intensified monitoring of people\u2019s movement between districts bordering Balochistan and Sindh and effective measures in district health facilities to combat a possible outbreak here.<\/p>\n

Balochistan has been experiencing a Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) outbreak and many patients are under treatment at Karachi hospitals. So far, three mortalities from Congo fever have been reported in the metropolis this week.<\/p>\n

According to data of the Balochistan health department, the last two years have seen a significantly high number of CCHF infections and mortalities in the province, as 21 deaths recorded last year and 20 mortalities this year so far.<\/p>\n

Health experts feared that the tick-borne illness, with 40 per cent mortality rate, could potentially affect the people in Sindh especially those living along the Sindh-Balochistan border given the fact that affected patients were travelling to other cities for treatment and livestock was routinely transported between the two provinces.<\/p>\n

\n

Baqar orders surveillance of Sindh-Balochistan border<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhile the latest victim from Quetta died at a government-run facility in Karachi, more than a dozen healthcare providers are currently under treatment at a private hospital in the city,\u201d shared a Sindh health department official.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis situation has created a lot of concern among the general public as well as official quarters that believe this Quetta outbreak may spread to the bordering districts in Sindh given the continued transportation of patients from the affected area to other areas,\u201d the official said, while explaining the need for preventive measures.<\/p>\n

According to him, the scale of the outbreak in Balochistan seems to be larger than what was previously believed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that effective preventive measures in livestock markets are not in place in Balochistan, resulting in infection among the general public,\u201d he said, adding that the patients now reporting in Karachi were not healthcare providers.<\/p>\n

Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar on Friday expressed concern over the Congo fever outbreak in Balochistan and the close proximity of some districts \u2014 Dadu, Shahdadkot, Kashmore and Jacobabad \u2014 facing potential risk due to frequent cross-border movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chief minister has directed the provincial health and livestock departments to intensify surveillance, particularly in the bordering district and tehsil adjoining Balochistan. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe also instructed for launching public awareness campaigns about preventive measures, including the use of insect repellents and protective clothing, besides monitoring of livestock markets, especially in border areas,\u201d a statement issued by the CM House said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Sindh health department has alerted the district health officers and directed hospitals across Sindh to set up isolation units and implement stringent infection control measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cA monitoring cell has been established at the director general health office. Healthcare facilities have been directed to provide personal protective equipment to healthcare providers. Instructions have also been given to launch educational activities in high-risk areas,\u201d health department spokesperson Shabbir Ali Babar said.<\/p>\n

According to WHO, the CCHF virus causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks. The virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals. Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.<\/p>\n

There is no vaccine available for either people or animals.<\/p>\n

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KARACHI: Frequent deaths of patients from Congo fever has set alarm bells ringing in the power corridors of Sindh as provincial authorities on Friday ordered intensified monitoring of people\u2019s movement between districts bordering Balochistan and Sindh and effective measures in district health facilities to combat a possible outbreak here. Balochistan has been experiencing a Crimean-Congo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/_img\/social-default.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}