title: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, February 2002: contact tracing and risk assessment.
abstract: A 25-year-old woman, later identified as index case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), presented to Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan with fever and generalized coagulopathy. A retrospective contact tracing was conducted to explore the modes of exposure possibly associated with transmission of CCHF infection among contacts. We traced 32 contacts of the index case and 158 contacts of secondary cases and tested them for IgG and IgM antibodies against CCHF virus by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. According to the type of exposure, contacts were divided into five subsets: percutaneous contact with blood, blood contact to unbroken skin, cutaneous contact to non-sanguineous body fluids, physical contact with patients without body fluids contact, and close proximity without touching. Two out of four contacts who reported percutaneous exposure tested positive for antibodies to CCHF virus. We conclude that simple barrier methods and care in provision of CCHF cases may prevent transmission of this infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Mercy Catholic Medical Center, Darby, Pennsylvania 19023, USA. drnaumanathar@yahoo.com <drnaumanathar@yahoo.com>
authors.forename: Muhammad Nauman
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Athar
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.forename: Ahsan Maqbool
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Naghman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bashir
authors.forename: Haider Zaigham
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Baqai
authors.forename: Masood
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Abbas Hayat
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Balouch
authors.forename: Kaukab
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bashir
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006479:Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018570:Risk Assessment