Deadly Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever outbreak in Ahmedabad; 3 die

Fear gripped Ahmedabad on Tuesday as news of three deaths due to Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) was confirmed by hospitals and the state government. This is the first time this deadly virus, known to have a mortality of 30-90%, has been detected in India.

The sketchy information about the first victim suggests that  30-year-old Ameena Momin, a resident of Korat village in Sanand, was admitted to Sterling Hospital on December 29 and later shifted to Shalby Hospital on January 1. She died on January 3. Her symptoms were fever, rigorous body ache, diarrhoea and vomiting. Her husband and brother, diagnosed with similar symptoms, are currently admitted to Civil Hospital.

The doctor treating her at Shalby, 32-year-old Dr Gaganjeet Sharma, died in the wee hours of Tuesday and an accompanying nurse Asha John died on Tuesday afternoon. John was on ventilator for two days at Shalby. She was about to fly abroad for a new job. Dr Sharma’s wife and Ameena’s kin are reportedly stable. 

Alarmed by the mysterious death of  Ameenabibi earlier, a team from the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, took as many as 50 samples from Ahmedabad on Monday and on Tuesday confirmed the virus as the dreaded CCHF.

According to doctors in the know of the cases, the patients were given symptomatic treatment for high fever and gastroenteritis as the virus CCHF had never been heard of here. There was panic in the medical community about an ‘unknown virus’. “The patients died due to multiple organ failure, especially liver and kidney,” said a senior health official of Ahmedabad district.

Health minister Jaynarayan Vyas confirmed CCHF as the reason behind the death of the three persons but urged residents not to panic. But panic was spreading at city hospitals as rumours of evacuation started spreading.

Reliable sources said that at least one patient was admitted each to SAL, Sterling and Apollo. But officials of these hospitals refused to confirm this.  Minister Vyas said that a team of expert doctors, including private doctors, had been formed to work out the treatment protocol for the fever.

The team will also suggest ways to control the spread of the disease. Officials said that a team from the union health ministry was also arriving in Ahmedabad on Wednesday for an assessment of the outbreak. They said that surveys have been initiated in villages falling within five km radius of Korat village, where the first case was detected, and around the house of the nurse John.

Chief medical officer (AMC) SP Kulkarni said: “There is no need to panic. But symptoms of the CCHF include headache, fever, stomach ache, back pain, vomiting and reddish eyes. People should take special care of maintaining hygiene and if someone comes in contact with patients, they should wash hands and use hand sanitiser,” 

Additional director (health) of state health department Dr Paresh Dave said people should not panic as this virus doesn’t spread through human-to-human transmission, but through body fluids and close contacts. “It doesn’t get transmitted through air so people should not panic, it is not like H1N1. Our team of expert doctors is working on developing the line of treatment for the virus, which would be decided soon and it would be issued to the medical fraternity. It would be technical to understand so in simple words, this virus would be treated with antiviral medicines and other supportive treatment like maintenance electrolytes, platelet count and fluid transfusion.”

The district health department has sent samples of five family members of Ameenabibi for test to NIV, Pune. Sources from VS hospital said though the virus had been identified, it is yet to be confirmed whether it is the same virus, as looking at the case history, it could be a sub category of the said virus’s family. Moreover, it may take some time to identify the line of treatment as the initial symptoms are similar to that of a regular virus and specific symptoms identified only at an advanced stage, which can be fatal for the patient.