Hemorrhagic fever kills 1 in Baghdad

The Governor of Baghdad, Muhammad Jaber al-Atta, announced the registration of a death case from hemorrhagic fever in the federal capital on Saturday.

Atta said during a press conference, according to a statement by the government's Media and Communication Department: “The Rusafa side witnessed two cases of hemorrhagic fever, while the Karkh side recorded 3 cases, including one death.”

Atta called for “joining efforts of all ministries, specifically from health, agriculture, environment, and the rest of the bodies represented by the media and their awareness role, and other administrative units,” stressing “the need to properly deal with the disease, through buying meat from Licensed butcher shops that are subject to health control."

The Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, also known as Congo fever, is tick-borne and causes severe hemorrhaging. 

People are often infected after they come into contact with the blood of infected animals, often after slaughtering livestock. The d The symptoms of the disease in its first stage include high temperature, lethargy, and various pains in the body and abdomen in particular.

Congo fever has been endemic to Iraq since 1979, according to World Health Organization (WHO). It can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids.

The disease existed in Iraq with only 20 cases or less in a year, but this year, the country has recorded over 55 cases so far, prompting authorities to take measures to control the disease spread.

Kirkuk recorded the first case of hemorrhagic fever death on May 7.



PUKmedia