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EMPHNET 7th Regional Conference 2021: “Towards Public Health Resilience in the EMR: Breaking Barriers” (62)

Published on in Vol 8, No 1 (2022): Jan-Dec

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/36495, first published .
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak in the North Region of Oman in August 2019: Case Series Study

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak in the North Region of Oman in August 2019: Case Series Study

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak in the North Region of Oman in August 2019: Case Series Study

Authors of this article:

Khalid Saif Alsaadi1 Author Orcid Image ;   Eman Abd-Ellatif2 ;   Fatima Alhashmi1 ;   Ali Almoqbali1 ;   Vidyanand Vaidya1
Article Authors Cited by (2) Tweetations Metrics

    Abstract

    1Directorate of Surveillance and Disease Control, North Batinah Region, Ministry of Health, Sohar, Oman

    2Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura university, Mansoura, Egypt

    *all authors contributed equally

    Corresponding Author:

    Khalid Saif Alsaadi, BSc, MD, DEP

    Directorate of Surveillance and Disease Control

    North Batinah Region

    Ministry of Health

    Liwa

    Sohar

    Oman

    Phone: 968 99224877

    Email: ka39saadi@gmail.com


    Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral zoonotic tickborne disease that has been linked to a high mortality rate in a number of nations. In Oman, the first case of CCHF was discovered in 1995. The Directorate of Disease Surveillance and Control received reports of four individuals with CCHF from various places in Northern Oman between August 17 and August 23, 2019 (during the Eid Adha festival).

    Objective: The aim of this study was to identify CCHF patients, determine the source and mechanism of transmission, and recommend preventive measures to avoid further outbreaks.

    Methods: We arranged for a field visit with teams from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Municipality on the same day of notice (August 23-17, 2019) in the region, and a case series study was undertaken using a semistructured questionnaire.

    Results: The findings revealed that all of the patients were men (three were Omanis), ranging in age from 40 to 55 years. Three of the patients worked in slaughterhouses, and all patients had close contact with raw sheep tissues. Fever and gastrointestinal problems were the most common symptoms, with a case fatality rate of 25%. Late bleeding signs and coagulopathy were detected in the patient who died.

    Conclusions: The causative agent was most likely CCHF virus, and the source of the outbreak was infected imported sheep through direct contact with contaminated biological tissues, based on symptoms, signs, lab tests, and the incubation period. All imported sheep must be tested and flagged at the main gates of the three ports in Oman’s north region.

    iproc 2022;8(1):e36495

    doi:10.2196/36495

    Keywords

    CCHF; outbreak; slaughterhouse; sheep; patient 

    Edited by Y Khader; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 16.01.22; accepted 19.01.22; published 07.02.22

    Copyright

    ©Khalid Saif Alsaadi, Eman Abd-Ellatif, Fatima Alhashmi, Ali Almoqbali, Vidyanand Vaidya. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 07.02.2022.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in Iproceedings, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.iproc.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.