Intern doctor succumbs to Congo fever, toll reaches 4

Ahmedabad, Jan 31 (PTI) An intern doctor, admitted to theSterling Hospital here, today died due to the Crimean-CongoHemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), taking the toll due to the diseasein Gujarat to four.

"One person has died due to the CCHF at our hospitaltoday. He was an intern doctor working at Civil hospital," DrChandramani Raval of Sterling Hospital told PTI.

The deceased Shabbir Ali Umatiya (25), hailing fromJuhapura area of the city, had been suffering from high fever,abdominal pain and vomiting when he was admitted to thehospital a couple of days ago and was being treated underisolation, he said.

"When he was admitted, we found that both his kidneyswere damaged and there was internal hemorrhage to his organs,"Dr Raval further said.

Umatiya''s blood sample was sent for testing yesterday,and its result, which came today after his death confirmedthat he had tested positive for CCHF, which is caused by atick-borne virus, he added.

Amina Momin, 30, of Kolat village in Sanand taluka nearhere, who died last month was the first victim of CCHF, whichwas also the first instance of this disease in India.

The doctor and nurse of a private hospital who treatedAmina also contracted the virus and died after a week. (More)PTI PB PD VKV

Amina''s husband had also tested positive for CCHF, but was cured after treatment and discharged last week.

Following the detection of CCHF, teams from the NationalInstitute of Virology (NIV), Pune and National Centre forDisease Control (NCDC), New Delhi had visited Kolat andcollected samples from humans and animals.

About 20 teams of doctors have already conductedsymptomatic survey in the 5 km radius of the Kolat village andchecked over 16,000 persons.

A team of entomologists, along with officials of theAnimal Husbandry department, has also conducted surveys in andaround Kolat and collected tick, which are responsible for theCCHF virus, from the body of animals and sent it to the NIVfor testing.

Though all the samples from humans tested negative forCCHF virus, about eight of the ticks were found to be carryingthe virus inside their body.