Pakistani health authorities said Thursday they feared an outbreak of a highly contagious and deadly Ebola-style disease among Afghan refugees fleeing the conflict in their homeland.
The head of Fatima Jinnah Hospital in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province told AFP he had written to the federal government appealing for extra resources to cope with the disease, called Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).
Akhlaq Hussain said a Pakistani man had died Thursday at his hospital from CCHF, and he feared the thousands of refugees expected to flood the region from neighboring Afghanistan would lead to more deaths.
CCHF is commonly passed to humans from ticks living on livestock, and the Afghans waiting on the other side of the border to cross in the event of a US-led attack against the Taliban are likely to bring their animals with them.
According to the World Health Organization, CCHF is extremely contagious and can be passed on by contact with victims' blood and other body fluids.
If not treated quickly, victims usually die within two weeks of infection, with initial symptoms including headaches, fevers and vomiting.
In its advanced stages patients may suffer from massive internal hemorrhaging, vomiting and defecating blood, bleeding into the skin and from the nose, urinary tract and gums.
CCHF was first detected in Crimea in 1944 and again in Congo in 1956, and is of the same family of acute Haemorrhagic fevers as the Ebola virus found in Africa.
There have been periodic outbreaks of CCHF in Pakistan over recent years. Hussain said 14 people had died from the disease in Pakistan so far this year.
Pakistan has closed its border to Afghan refugees since the September 11 terrorist strikes on the United States, fearing a potential refugee exodus in the event of US retaliatory attacks.
Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, suspected of masterminding the suicide hijackings in New York and Washington, lives in Afghanistan under Taliban protection -- ISLAMABAD (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
