Congo fever infection cases, deaths top in Iraq’s Dhi Qar

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Health Department of Dhi Qar Governorate announced Sunday it recorded the highest rate of infection cases and deaths of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever than the rest of other governorates.

Director of Public Health Department in Dhi Qar Hussein Riyadh, in a press statement to Baghdad Today News Agency, said that the governorate recorded 28 cases infected with hemorrhagic fever and five deaths since the emergence of the disease at the beginning of this year.

“Dhi Qar has the highest rates of infection compared to other governorates because of the great effort exerted by teams belong to Dhi Qar Public Health Department to get accurate numbers,” Riyadh added.

Ruba Falah, official in the Iraqi Ministry of Health, in a statement to Earth News, explained that hemorrhagic fever is an endemic viral disease. Infections with this disease have been recorded since the seventies until today. Small number of infections with this disease are recorded every year, but the numbers rose this year compared to previous years.

“Hemorrhagic fever is contagious and spreads quickly as it infects both human and animals. The initial symptoms are headache, muscle pain, high temperature and nausea. Recovery rates are high if the patient consulted the doctor quickly. There is no vaccine for this disease, neither for humans nor animals, but as prevention is better than cure, wearing protective clothes and slaughtering in specialized places can prevent further infections,” Falah continued.

“People work in barns, in livestock breeding and butchers are more vulnerable to infection. But the Ministry of Health provides assistance in terms of diagnoses, treatment and health follow-ups to people infected with the Congo fever,” Falah added.

While the death rate of people infected with Hemorrhagic fever ranges between 10 and 40 percent, the total number of infections throughout the country until now is 40.