A TEENAGER has tested positive for one of the world’s deadliest diseases which can cause eyes to bleed. The 14-year-old boy contracted Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever ( CCHF ) which is mostly spread through infected ticks. The case was detected in Pakistan , where another suspected infection was also reported.
The disease kills up to 40 per cent of infected people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). It is passed to humans through bites from infected ticks or by direct contact with infected animal blood. It's endemic in places with warm climates but experts warn it could soon be seen in the UK.
Read more on CCHF Quetta’s Fatima Jinnah Chest Hospital told Arab News a 14-year-old boy had tested positive for the virus. “The infected patient is being treated in the Congo isolation ward, but we have another suspected Congo patient whose report is yet to be confirmed,” Dr Zubair Mandokhail, deputy medical superintendent at the facility, said. This year, Pakistan reported 84 cases of CCHF and five deaths from the disease.
Hospitals in affected countries typically see an increase in cases around Eid, an Islamic festival celebrated after the annual Hajj pilgrimage, when people buy and slaughter animals in large numbers. Most read in Health CCHF symptoms can range from a mild febrile, flu-like illness to severe disease characterised by bleeding, multi-organ failure and shock. It was first found in Crimea in 1944 and is now endemic to Africa , the Balkans, the Mid.