MoPH: 159 new Congo fever cases surface during Eid holidays

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Tuesday announced registering nearly 160 new positive Congo Fever cases during the three days of Eidul Adha in the country, with 25 of them losing battle for life.

On June 19, MoPH confirmed over 260 positive cases of Congo Fever all over the country.

Dr. Fakhruddin Stankizai, zoonotic illnesses specialists at MoPH, told Pajhwok that MoPH had registered 159 more positive cases of Congo Fever in the country and 25 of the patients had died.

He said symptoms of Congo disease or hemorrhagic fever appear from one to nine days and the number patients may be even higher.

Dr. Fakhruddin said with registration of new cases, the total number of people suffering from Congo disease has reached 426 and a total of 36 people have died so far.

Most of Congo cases were registered in Kabul, Kandahar, Balkh, Faryab, Herat and Jawzjan provinces.

Dr. Fakhruddin blamed the increasing number of Congo cases on people’s carelessness and not following MoHP instructions.

He advised people especially women to wear gloves and use masks while chopping the meat or cooking it and wash their hands with water and soap.

He said: “If any of the symptoms of this disease appear in a person, he/she must visit health center as soon as possible to prevent from further spread of this illness”.

Congo fever is one of the common diseases of animals and humans, the virus of which is transmitted to a healthy person through a tick bite from an animal to a human, or through eating semi-raw meat, contact with infected animal secretions.

According to Stanikzai, severe fever, headache, muscles pain, joints pain, pain in stomach, throat pain, conjunctivitis, jaundice, anemia are primary symptoms of this disease while bleeding under the skin and severe bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth are among advanced symptoms of this disease,

aw/ma