A 51-year-old woman from Jodhpur died of Congo fever at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Wednesday. The medical and health department in Rajasthan has issued necessary guidelines for the prevention and protection of the disease across the state.
Officials have asked the suspected and symptomatic patients in the area to be in isolation. Congo fever is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks. It can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues. The disease was first described in the Crimean Peninsula in 1944 and given the name Crimean haemorrhagic fever. The Animal Husbandry Department has been asked to take necessary steps to prevent and control this disease.
Congo Fever: Symptoms
The symptoms of the Congo fever are sudden and can include:
- Fever
- Muscle ache,
- Dizziness,
- Neck pain, backache & headache,
- Sore eyes and photophobia (sensitivity to light).
- Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sore throat early on,
- Sharp mood swings and confusion.
After two to four days, the agitation may be replaced by sleepiness, depression and lassitude, and the abdominal pain may localise to the upper right quadrant, with detectable hepatomegaly (liver enlargement), the World Health Organization said.
Other signs include fast heart rate, enlarged lymph nodes, and a rash caused by bleeding into the skin on internal mucosal surfaces, such as in the mouth and throat, and on the skin. The WHO said there is usually evidence of hepatitis, and severely ill patients may experience rapid kidney deterioration, sudden liver failure or pulmonary failure after the fifth day of illness.
Officials in Jodhpur said they have asked people to take all precautionary measures to prevent and protect against this disease. All private and government medical institutions have been instructed that if any person shows symptoms of Congo fever, a sample from him should be taken immediately and sent for examination.
Meanwhile, the monkeypox test report of a 20-year-old man from Nagaur, who was kept in isolation at RUHS hospital, has come negative. The man had come to Jaipur from Dubai. During the health check-up at Jaipur airport, he was sent to RUHS hospital after rashes were found on his body. He had chickenpox during the test in Jaipur and as a precaution, his blood sample was sent to Sawai Mansingh Hospital for a monkeypox test.
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