Weeks after the first case was reported in the city, the provincial health authorities have failed to take adequate measures PHOTO: STANFORD

KARACHI: 

The second Congo virus case of the year recently surfaced in the city. Luckily, the patient is said to be in a stable condition, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.

The patient who is admitted in the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) is a 17-year-old student and a resident of Shah Faisal Colony. (The patient’s name is being withheld on the request of the family).

The family, who could not afford the cost of private medical care, had taken the boy to a charitable hospital in Korangi in a critical condition. Sources said that the boy was referred to the JPMC as the administration had told the family that there was no bed available for him.

The hospital administration had suspected that the boy was suffering from the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and referred him to the JPMC on September 4.

The laboratory tests, which were sent to the Aga Khan University Hospital, confirmed on September 6 that the patient had contracted the Congo virus.

Weeks after the first case was reported in the city, the provincial health authorities have failed to take adequate measures to stop the virus from spreading.

The history of the latest patient shows that he used to play in a ground located near a cattle pen. The healthcare providers believe that the boy was infected during his visits to the cattle pen.

According to Dr Seemin Jamali, the joint executive director of the JPMC and the incharge of its accidents and emergency ward, the boy was brought to the hospital in a very critical condition, adding that there was blood in his urine and vomits.

“Yes, he is a positive Congo virus case,” Dr Jamali confirmed to The Express Tribune. She said that the boy is being kept in the isolation ward, adding that all precautionary measures are being taken.

Despite the high mortality rate, Dr Jamali seemed confident that the boy will survive. “He is in stable condition and is gradually recovering,” she added. This is the first case in one of the city’s biggest health facilities where a patient with Congo virus is said to be in stable condition.

Earlier, 24-year-old Muhammad Kashif, the city’s first case of the year, died in a private hospital in the fourth week of August. Kashif was a resident of Gulberg town, Federal B Area, Union Council No.1.

Kashif was a butcher by profession. The city’s top health officials had convened meetings and claimed that they had issued warnings to slaughter houses and cattle pen owners regarding the virus. They also claimed that all precautionary measures were being adopted so that more cases could be avoided.

Health officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation also conducted a survey of 2,000 houses around Kashif’s house to check for possible threats of the virus being present in the area.

Health care providers fear that the situation seems very critical as two cases have surfaced within 15 days and thousands of animals are being brought to the city every day.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2014.