Hemorrhagic fever cases rise to 119, including 18 deaths
A veterinary team member sprays cattle in a farm with disinfectant in Kirkuk, Iraq. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that the confirmed cases of hemorrhagic fever have risen to 119, including 18 deaths, the state news agency (INA) reported.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Saif Al-Badr, explained that the Dhi Qar governorate has the highest number of cases, where 35 cases were recorded, INA mentioned.
Al-Badr elaborated that the rest of the hemorrhagic fever cases were recorded in Basra, Muthanna, Najaf, Maysan, Baghdad, Wasit, Babylon, Salah Al-Din, Diyala, Diwaniyah, Karbala, Anbar, and Erbil.
The Iraqi official clarified that six cases died in Dhi Qar, three in Muthanna, and one death in each of Basra, Najaf, Diyala, Diwaniyah, Baghdad, Wasit, Babylon, Erbil, and Karbala.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the mortality rate of the viral disease is 40 percent.
The virus is transmitted to humans from livestock animals, and between humans by direct contact with the blood or body fluids of the infected person.
People most vulnerable to the disease are livestock breeders and people working in butchery, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
With symptoms including pains in muscles and joints, high temperatures, and bleeding, it raises international concern as there is no vaccine for this disease.
The WHO mentioned that hemorrhagic fever is transmitted from one person to another by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other body fluids of an infected person.
The death rate of people infected with Hemorrhagic fever virus ranges between 10 and 40 percent, and it is a life-threatening infectious disease, as it can cause damage to the walls of small blood vessels, resulting in bleeding with the possibility of impairing the ability of the blood to clot.