Why in news?
Gujarat recently saw a Congo fever case.
About Congo fever:
- It’s also called Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
- The virus was first reported in Crimea in 1944, followed by the Congo in Africa in 1969.
- The CCHF virus is typically spread by tick bites or contact with livestock carrying the disease.
- Those affected are often farmers or work in slaughterhouses.
- The virus can also spread between people via body fluids.
- The infection-causing tick-borne virus is part of the Bunyaviridae family.
- It is considered endemic in the Middle East, Africa, the Balkans, and Asia, and is commonly known as the Congo fever.
- Symptoms include mild viral fevers include fatigue, back pain, articular pain, stomach pain, diarrhea, red eyes and high fever.
- Prevention involves avoiding tick bites. Though vaccines are not commercially available, treatment is typically with supportive care. L
- A wide variety of preventive measures, such as wearing protective long sleeve clothing, repellents for the skin, clothing, and quarantining animals before being brought into killing homes, are proposed by the WHO.
