A 42-year-old man, resident of Quetta passed away on Friday due to the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), raising the death toll of the current year to five.

According to the administration of Fatima Jinnah Institute of Chest Diseases, Muhammad Iqbal, a 42-year-old resident of Zarghoon Road Quetta, was admitted to the isolation ward of the institute.

His samples were sent for lab reports, which proved to be positive. Later, the patients succumbed to the Congo virus.

In the current season, the number of patients affected by the Congo virus in Balochistan has reached 18, with the death toll at five.

What is Congo virus

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is caused by infection with a virus from that is transmitted by ticks. Crimean hemorrhagic fever was the term given to the illness when it was first identified in the Crimea in 1944. The disease’s current name came about as a result of the fact that it was later identified as the illness’s primary cause in the Congo in 1969.

Humans contract the disease by coming into contact with infected ticks or animal blood, infectious blood, or bodily fluids. The hosts of the CCHF virus include a wide range of wild and domestic animals such as cattle, sheep, goats and other livestock.

Hospitals have also documented cases of CCHF spreading because of contaminated medical supplies, reused needles, and insufficient sterilization of medical equipment.