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Afghanistan: Crimean-Congo fever

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  • Afghanistan: Crimean-Congo fever

    Outbreak of rare disease kills two

    Wednesday August 27, 2008 (1828 PST)

    (Quqnoos)AN OUTBREAK of a rare disease that causes its victims to bleed and can kill within two weeks has infected three people and killed two others in the western province of Herat.

    The disease, called Crimean-Congo fever or CCHF, has never been recorded in Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organisation?s (WHO) website.

    Doctors in Herat warned that the disease, which is transmitted from animals to humans through ticks, will spread to other parts of the country unless preventative steps are taken immediately.

    Victims have a 30% chance of dying within the second week of the disease once infected, the WHO says.

    Sudden fever, aching muscles, dizziness, neck pain, backache, headache, sore eyes and photophobia (sensitivity to light) are early symptoms of CCHF.

    These are followed by a fast heart rate, a rash that causes the skin to bleed, bleeding from the upper bowel, blood in the urine, nosebleeds and gum bleeding.

    Head of the regional hospital in Herat said nine potential victims of the disease had come into hospital for treatment, but only five of them had tested positive for CCHF so far.

    Two of the five infected with the disease have died.

    Infection can be prevented by using repellents on the skin and clothing and by wearing gloves or other protective clothing to prevent skin contact with infected tissue or blood.

    Doctors in Herat sent blood samples to the UN?s medical centre in Egypt to find out if the patients had the disease - five tested positive.

    The results of four other potential victims are still pending.

    Butchers, shepherds and others who have daily contact with animals are more likely to be infected with the disease.

    The disease is endemic in many countries in Africa, Europe and Asia and, during 2001, cases or outbreaks have been recorded in Kosovo, Albania, Iran, Pakistan, and South Africa, but never Afghanistan.

    The disease was first described in the Crimea in 1944.



    A suspected CCHF outbreak in neighbouring Afghanistan is reported:

    ?Addressing chronic disease is an issue of human rights ? that must be our call to arms"
    Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief The Lancet

    ~~~~ Twitter:@GertvanderHoek ~~~ GertvanderHoek@gmail.com ~~~
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