Deathcount Rises from 2 to 10 / Suspect CCHF

UNDIAGNOSED FATAL ILLNESS - PAKISTAN (02): (KHYBER-PAKHTUNKHWA)


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A ProMED-mail post



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Date: Tue 28 Sep 2010

Source: Express Tribune [edited]







10 die of mysterious disease in Dir

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A total of 10 people have died of an unknown disease in Lower Dir

while another 15 have been shifted to a hospital with the same

symptoms. According to locals, the disease broke out around 15 days

ago, with symptoms of severe temperature and body ache which resulted

in death within 2 weeks. Doctors say the symptoms of the disease are

similar to dengue [fever]. The blood samples of the affected persons

have been sent to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad; 3

critically ill patients have been shifted to Khyber Teaching Hospital,

Peshawar, where they are being kept in an isolation ward.



One [suspected] dengue patient was diagnosed with the Crimean-Congo

hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus infection in Karachi, causing alarm in

the city.



--

Communicated by:

ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall



[The description of the symptoms of the illness responsible for the 10

fatalities and 15 hospitalised cases in Lower Dir is not sufficient to

suggest a diagnosis. Dengue fever appears to have been excluded, but

CCHF virus infection remains a possibility. It is unclear at present

if there is any similarity between this outbreak and the deaths of

patients at the Ayub Hospital Abbottabad, also in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

(see the preceding ProMED-mail report, archive number 20100927.3505).

Further information would be welcomed.



Dir is a town in Upper Dir District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province

(formerly North-West Frontier Province), Pakistan. It lies at the foot

of the Lowarai Pass, the main motor road to Chitral, on the Dir River,

a tributary of the Panjkora River. The HealthMap/ProMED-mail

interactive map of Pakistan can be accessed at:

. - Mod.CP]



[see also:

Undiagnosed fatal illness - Pakistan: (NW) 20100927.3505

Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (03): (PB) 20100923.3440

Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan (02): (KI) 20100917.3372

Crimean-Congo hem. fever - Pakistan ex Afghanistan: RFI 20100629.2161]

...................cp/ejp/jw

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