PESHAWAR: The health department has recorded three positive cases of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the current year so far.
The department is preparing to impart training to staff deployed for screening at airport and isolation wards regarding the signs and symptoms of Ebola and hantavirus.
The health department had circulated advisory to hospitals in the province regarding CCHF a month before Eidul Azha. It has recorded a total of three Congo cases. One case was recorded in Karak in March. Two cases, one each in Mardan and Kohat, were reported in May. All patients have been recovered.
According to a report prepared by Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response System of public health section at Directorate General Health Services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Public Health Reference Laboratory (PHRL) at Khyber Medical University has received a total of 15 samples from suspected patients so far.
Training of screening staff on Ebola, hantavirus planned
As per directives of health department and in line with the guidelines of National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, all hospitals will continue to dispatch samples from suspected patients to the laboratory as the danger of CCHF is not over yet.
According to experts, the incubation period of the tick-borne viral ailment is from seven to 14 days due to which hospitals have been instructed to send specimens from patients having high fever, severe headache, and muscle, joint, stomach and neck pain associated with nausea, and vomiting to PHRL through free courier services because the disease has 10 to 40 per cent mortality rate.
Officials told this scribe that CCHF cases might emerge in hot and humid climate which was likely to start soon but more attention was being paid to the disease ahead of Eidul Azha owing to movement of sacrificial animals. In the past few years, the disease had killed and infected many people, mostly butchers and animal handlers.
“The province has been reporting cases and deaths almost every year due to which prevention measures are important,” they said.
PHRL has planned two training workshops to ascertain the level of capacity of diagnostic services in the province. The training is meant to strengthen preparation in case of Ebola and Hantavirus.
“Airport health screening staff and those working in isolation wards will be given training on infection prevention and control measures,” said officials.
They said that the rapid spread of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo created alarming situation and training of airport staff was required. They said that the screening staff at Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar played significant part in detection of suspected cases of mpox.
The staff should be trained on the signs and symptoms of people suspected of Ebola and hantavirus.
PHRL director Dr Yasar Mehmood Yousafzai said that consultations were going on regarding the capacity assessment of their laboratories in line with ‘One Health’ concept of managing diseases.
“One Health concept includes human, animal, marine and aquatic and agriculture. The basic concept is the disease triangle of human, pathogen and environment,” he said. According to him, one can’t control dengue without controlling mosquito, the carrier and transmitter of the vector-borne sickness.
Dr Yasar said that doctors might treat dengue but for mosquito control, the input of entomologists was required. “At PHRL, we are conducting tests for mpox, typhoid, CCHF, cholera and chikungunya etc free of cost. We are making some procurement from NIH to start tests for Ebola and Hantavirus in near future,” he said.
Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2026
