Karachi registers year's first death from Congo virus

KARACHI - A Karachi woman lost her battle against Congo virus at the city’s Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Tuesday becoming the first victim of the year in Pakistan owing to the disease.

The resident Karachi’s Orangi Town had been shifted to the Jinnah Hospital in a critical condition.

It was confirmed by the hospital’s Executive Director Dr Seemin Jamali that the 35-year-old had been infected with the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) which later took her life.

The disease is transmitted through a tick that attaches itself to the skin of cattle that transports the virus to people who come in contact with it.

World Health Organization says the disease has a fatality rate ranging from 10 percent to 40 percent with its symptoms including fever, muscle aches, faintness, neck and backaches, sore eyes, sensitivity to light, nausea, diarrhoea and sore throat.

Last year, 16 Karachiites had lost their lives to the Congo Virus.