Johannesburg - A farmer who has been diagnosed with Congo fever, a life-threatening disease, has been admitted to a Pretoria hospital.
On Sunday, Dr Lucille Blumberg, from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), confirmed that the man, who is in his forties, was diagnosed with Congo fever.
She said the man was transferred from a hospital in Mpumalanga on Friday before the tests confirmed that he had the disease. Tests had been run while he was still in Mpumalanga because it was suspected he had Congo fever.
Commenting on the patient’s condition, Blumberg said: “He is in a stable condition and he is improving.”
Blumberg said the man had a fever, headache, muscle pain and bleeding gums.
Three other cases of Congo fever have been reported in South Africa this year - one in North West, while the other two patients were from the Free State.
According to the January 1 communiqué on the NICD website, a 31-year-old man working as a game warden on a private game ranch near Jagersfontein in the Free State presented with clinical symptoms suggestive of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
A second case of CCHF was confirmed on January 12, after a 44-year-old man was taken to hospital in Bloemfontein.
He had been on a farm in Pomfret, North West (about 5km from the Botswana border), where he was bitten by a tick.
Three days later he developed symptoms, and presented with fever, rash, conjunctivitis and pharyngitis.
Blumberg said: “They were all doing very well and have long been discharged.”
The Star