. Earth Science News .
Suspected Haemorrhagic Fever Case In Pakistan Quake Zone

Haemorrhagic fever is caused by a tick-borne virus stemming from livestock which is transmitted into open cuts and sores. It causes massive bleeding through the nose, mouth and ears and can lead to organ failure.

Islamabad, Pakistan (AFP) Oct 26, 2005
A patient with a suspected case of highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has been airlifted from a Pakistani town devastated by the October 8 earthquake, health officials said Wednesday.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had not confirmed that the patient from the ruined town of Bagh was definitely suffering from the disease, which can cause death by massive internal bleeding.

"It is not a confirmed case but a highly suspected case," Krist Teirlink, the Paris-based charity's coordinator for emergency operations in Pakistani Kashmir, told AFP.

"The patient has been evacuated by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO)," he added.

The WHO confirmed that it had flown out a suspected case of Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever from the area by helicopter, adding that the man was due to arrive shortly in the capital Islamabad.

"There is a suspected case but it's not a reason for alarm or panic," WHO official Rachel Lavy told AFP. "We have evacuated the individual from the area and will take tests."

The WHO's medical officer for disease surveillance and response, Rana Graber, said the patient would be isolated at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad's biggest hospital.

"We have no laboratories there (in Bagh) so because the patient is bleeding and has a fever we were thinking we should bring the case here so we can evaluate it," she told AFP from Islamabad.

Doctors had given anti-viral drugs to the patient's family and anyone else who had been in direct contact with him to stop them contracting the disease, Graber said.

But she stressed that haemorrhagic fever could only be passed on through bodily fluids such as blood, vomit and faeces and could not be transmitted by breathing.

In recent years Pakistan has suffered a number of cases of haemorrhagic fever, some of which proved fatal.

It is caused by a tick-borne virus stemming from livestock which is transmitted into open cuts and sores. It causes massive bleeding through the nose, mouth and ears and can lead to organ failure.

Initial symptoms include headaches, fevers and vomiting.

MSF added that around five percent of quake patients in Bagh were suffering from bronchitis or pneumonia, and warned that people would die of exposure if immediate help does not arrive in the rugged areas hit by the disaster.

"It is not an outbreak yet but MSF's fear is that it will go faster if there is not proper sheltering for all these people," Tierlink said.

"Another problem is that you have to hospitalise these patients. You cannot send them out of the hospital because there is no proper shelter for them" and their illnesses could recur, he added.

"People will die of exposure, they will die of pneumonia. We can feel it in our toes," said MSF's medical coordinator for Bagh, Marc Joolen.

Joolen said the international community needed to donate more and regretted the "lukewarm response" so far.

Related Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express

China Steps Up Efforts Against Bird Flu After Week's Third Outbreak
Beijing, China (AFP) Oct 26, 2005
China mobilized roadside sterilization stations and inspected markets Wednesday in stepped-up measures to tackle bird flu after the third outbreak in a week.







  • $580M Aid Pledges For Pakistan Sow Confusion For UN
  • Florida Governor Bush Admits Wilma Relief Effort Weak
  • Indian Quake Victims Slam Delay In Kashmir Border Opening
  • Indian Quake Victims Slam Delay In Kashmir Border Opening

  • Seeing The Forest And The Trees
  • Selective Logging Causes Widespread Destruction Of Brazil's Amazon: Study
  • Mountain Winds May Create Atmospheric Hotspots
  • Climate Model Predicts Dramatic Changes Over Next 100 Years

  • Telling The Time Of Earth's Core Formation
  • NASA Satellites Will Reveal Secrets Of Clouds And Aerosols
  • Report Emphasises Science Benefits Of Esa's Earth Observation Envelope Programme
  • Recent Landslides In La Conchita, CA, Belong To Much Larger Prehistoric Slide

  • Analysis: Gazprom's U.S. Road Show
  • Wind Farm To Be Built Off Galveston Island
  • NASA Announces Results From Beam & Tether Challenges
  • Scientists Synthesize Cheap, Easy-to-Make Ultra-thin Photovoltaic Films

  • China Steps Up Efforts Against Bird Flu After Week's Third Outbreak
  • Fluwrap: Bird Bans Fail To Stem Tide
  • Three New Human Bird Flu Cases In Asia
  • Suspected Haemorrhagic Fever Case In Pakistan Quake Zone

  • Scripps Institution Of Oceanography Launches Scripps Genome Center
  • Plants Redesigned To Live In Outer Space
  • Poll: Evolution Rejected By Most In Survey
  • UCSD Study Shows 'Junk' DNA Has Evolutionary Importance

  • Bangladeshi People Can Help Combat Arsenic Poisoning: Researchers
  • NOAA Tests For Gulf Of Mexico Contaminates
  • Rocket-Fueled Bacteria Clean Up Waste
  • 400,000 People In China Die Prematurely From Air Pollution Annually: Expert

  • Color Perception Is Not In The Eye Of The Beholder: It's In The Brain
  • Cornell Finds Natural Selection in Humans
  • Ancient Anthropoid Origins Discovered In Africa
  • Scientists Uncover Why Picture Perception Works

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement