Villager selling watermelons in Dushanbe diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever

12.08.2009 12:14

Author: Nargis Hamroboyeva


DUSHANBE, August 12, 2009, Asia-Plus -- Villager from Khatlon selling watermelons at the market in Dushanbe’s Gyprozem area has been diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever, Deputy health Minister, Azamjon Mirzoyev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus today.
According to him, the villager was diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever a couple of days before. “He probably was bitten by tick when he went to Khatlon for the next consignment of watermelons,” said the deputy minister, “He is currently in the Dushanbe infectious diseases hospital and five medical workers and eight persons that had contact with him are currently under the care of physicians.”
We will recall that Azamjon Mirzoyev told Asia-Plus on August 7 that three residents of the Tursunzoda district, some 60 kilometers west of Dushanbe, have died of hemorrhagic fever. “Among them are the brothers Kholmanov, 50 and 47, from the village of Ziyoratut and the 47-year-old head of the infectious diseases department within the local central district hospital Askar Umarov,” the deputy minister said. Umarov died of the disease on August 6.
According to him, the first case of the disease was reported in the village of Ziyoratut on July 27. “Five persons have been diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever; three of them died,” said Mirzoyev. “24 persons that had contact with VHF patients are currently under the care of physicians.”
Mirzoyev noted today that two other persons that were diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever and 20 of those 24 persons that were hospitalized in Tursunzoda on suspicion of having contracted the disease have already been discharged from the hospital.
The viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a diverse group of animal and human illnesses that are caused by five distinct families of RNA viruses: the Arenaviridae, Filoviridae, Bunyaviridae, Togaviridae, and Flaviviridae. All types of VHF are characterized by fever and bleeding disorders and all can progress to high fever, shock and death in extreme cases. Some of the VHF agents cause relatively mild illnesses, such as the Scandinavian nephropathia epidemica, while others, such as the African Ebola virus, can cause severe, life-threatening disease.
The Arenaviridae include the viruses responsible for Lassa fever and Argentine, Bolivian and Venzuelan hemorrhagic fever. The Bunyaviridae include the members of the Hantavirus genus that cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus from the Nairovirus genus, and the Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus from the Phlebovirus genus. The Filoviridae include Ebola and Marburg viruses. Finally, the Flaviviridae include dengue, yellow fever, and two viruses in the tick-borne encephalitic group cause VHF: Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus and Kyasanur Foreist disease virus.