Second case of Congo fever
The second case of the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (Congo fever) has been confirmed in the Omaheke Region.
This was announced by the Ministry of Health and Social Services on Friday.
According to the health ministry's permanent secretary, Andreas Mwoombola, a 19-year-old man from Okungoua village was bitten by a tick on 1 March.
He showed symptoms of Congo fever when he was admitted to the Corridor Post 13 Primary Health Care Clinic on 5 March and was transferred to the Gobabis State Hospital where blood samples were taken.
The patient was transferred to the Windhoek Central Hospital on Wednesday, where he is in a stable condition and being kept in isolation.
The results of the blood tests obtained last Thursday showed that he tested positive for Congo fever.
Mwoombola said ministry officials are busy conducting investigations, providing health education and disinfecting households at the village where the patient comes from. Last month, nine people were placed in isolation following contact with a 26-year-old man who died of Congo fever in the Gobabis State Hospital on 22 February.
They were discharged when they tested negative.
Mwoombola said that there is no efficient vaccine or a specific treatment for Congo fever.
“However outbreak control measures are rather simple and appear very effective if they are fully accepted by the affected populations.” Symptoms can include sudden onset of high fever, headache, back pain, joint pain, dizziness, bleeding and nausea.
A person can get Congo fever through tick bites, or handling ticks with bare hands, direct contact with infected animal blood and organs, including slaughter of animals with ticks attached.
It can also spread by handling contaminated linen, beddings and clothes or by using contaminated medical equipment and supplies, direct physical contact with body fluids or blood of a person suffering from Congo fever or direct contact with a body of a person who died of Congo fever.
In order to prevent infection check for ticks or tick bites after working with animals and remove them immediately using fine-tipped tweezers and protect your hands.
ELLANIE SMIT
This was announced by the Ministry of Health and Social Services on Friday.
According to the health ministry's permanent secretary, Andreas Mwoombola, a 19-year-old man from Okungoua village was bitten by a tick on 1 March.
He showed symptoms of Congo fever when he was admitted to the Corridor Post 13 Primary Health Care Clinic on 5 March and was transferred to the Gobabis State Hospital where blood samples were taken.
The patient was transferred to the Windhoek Central Hospital on Wednesday, where he is in a stable condition and being kept in isolation.
The results of the blood tests obtained last Thursday showed that he tested positive for Congo fever.
Mwoombola said ministry officials are busy conducting investigations, providing health education and disinfecting households at the village where the patient comes from. Last month, nine people were placed in isolation following contact with a 26-year-old man who died of Congo fever in the Gobabis State Hospital on 22 February.
They were discharged when they tested negative.
Mwoombola said that there is no efficient vaccine or a specific treatment for Congo fever.
“However outbreak control measures are rather simple and appear very effective if they are fully accepted by the affected populations.” Symptoms can include sudden onset of high fever, headache, back pain, joint pain, dizziness, bleeding and nausea.
A person can get Congo fever through tick bites, or handling ticks with bare hands, direct contact with infected animal blood and organs, including slaughter of animals with ticks attached.
It can also spread by handling contaminated linen, beddings and clothes or by using contaminated medical equipment and supplies, direct physical contact with body fluids or blood of a person suffering from Congo fever or direct contact with a body of a person who died of Congo fever.
In order to prevent infection check for ticks or tick bites after working with animals and remove them immediately using fine-tipped tweezers and protect your hands.
ELLANIE SMIT
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