DUSHANBE, August 7, 2009, Asia-Plus — Three residents of the Tursunzoda district, some 60 kilometers west of Dushanbe, have died of hemorrhagic fever, Asia-Plus has learned from Azamjon Mirzoyev, Deputy Health Minister also Tajikistan Head Sanitary Physician.
“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 yesterday.
According to him, the first case of the disease was reported in the village of Ziyoratut on July 27. “To this date, five persons have been diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever; three of them died,” said Mirzoyev. “24 persons that were in contact with those having contracted the disease are currently under the care of physicians. Antiepidemic measures have been taken in Ziyoratut.” No new cases of hemorrhagic fever have been reported so far, he added.
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.
