Ahmedabad: The fatal Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever caused by an animal tick-borne virus has surfaced in Gujarat, claiming the lives of three people including a doctor and a nurse.
In the wake of the deaths, the state health department has gone on alert and a survey has been undertaken to find out the affected people. A team from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) is likely to arrive in Ahmedabad by Thursday
"A woman from Kolat village in Sanand taluka was the first to die in the first week of January, followed by the doctor who treated her at a private hospital here and the staff nurse who assisted in treatment, who died yesterday of CCHF," Additional Director (Health) Dr Paresh Dave said.
Dave, who is in-charge of the team investigating the disease, said the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune has also confirmed after testing the samples sent to them, that the deceased were infected with CCHF, commonly known as Congo fever.
The victims have been identified as Amina Momin (30) of Kolat village in Sanand taluka of the district; Dr Gagan Sharma and nurse Asha John of a private hospital in Ahmedabad, where Momin was admitted with high fever, abdominal pain and vomitting.
Dave said the state health department began surveillance in Kolat and near by villages in wake of the deaths.
"A team from NIV has already landed in the city and is accompanying the team of doctors and veterinarians surveying villages to look for more suspected cases of CCHF," he said.
"The virus causing CCHF is not transmitted by air and it was not an epidemic so there was no need to panic," Dave said.
Dave said the relatives of the first victim of CCHF have been kept in isolation and are presently being monitored by expert doctors.
"They have not tested positive of CCHF virus," he said.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Congo is a viral haemorrhagic fever of zoonosis nature i.e it could be transmitted from animals to humans and vice-versa.
The CCHF is primarily found in animals which caused by tick-based virus.
It may infect a wide range of domestic and wild animals. Animals become infected with CCHF from the bite of infected ticks.
The WHO website said that humans who become infected with CCHF acquire the virus from direct contact with blood or other infected tissues from livestock during this time, or they may become infected from a tick bite.
The majority of cases have occurred in those involved with the livestock industry, such as agricultural workers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians, it added.
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