Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, February 2002: contact tracing and risk assessment.
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.
Athar
Muhammad Nauman
MN
Department of Internal Medicine, Mercy Catholic Medical Center, Darby, Pennsylvania 19023, USA. drnaumanathar@yahoo.com <drnaumanathar@yahoo.com>
Khalid
Mohammad Ali
MA
Ahmad
Ahsan Maqbool
AM
Bashir
Naghman
N
Baqai
Haider Zaigham
HZ
Ahmad
Masood
M
Balouch
Abbas Hayat
AH
Bashir
Kaukab
K
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