DAKAR (Reuters) – Senegal’s health ministry confirmed a case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in a hospital on the outskirts of the capital Dakar, it said in a statement.
The case was detected on April 21 in the Dalal Jamm hospital in Guediawaye, the health ministry said in the statement released late on Saturday. A health emergency task force has been activated to oversee the response.
CCHF is a tick borne virus that can also transmit between humans by close contact with blood or bodily fluids, the World Health Organisation says. It has a fatality rate of between 10% and 40%.
Endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and some Asian countries, CCHF symptoms include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, light sensitivity and vomiting, and can lead to organ failure and internal bleeding. It was first detected in Crimea in 1944.
Recent outbreaks in Africa have been limited in scope. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest recent outbreak was detected in Mauritania in 2003, with 35 cases and six deaths. South Africa had 17 cases and five deaths in 2011.
(Reporting by Diadie Ba and Edward McAllister;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
