By Motshidisi Mokwena
Laboratory results will confirm whether a 29-year-old man, suspected of having Congo fever, had contracted the disease, which has claimed the life of a Murraysburg farmer in the Eastern Cape.
The man, who has not been named, was transferred from North West province to Johannesburg Hospital shortly after midnight on Thursday, the hospital said.
As a precautionary measure, he has been kept in strict isolation and staff were expected to wear protective clothing to avoid infection.
Hospital senior superintendent Warrick Sive said a diagnosis was at this stage tentative and that it was largely based on the patient's occupational history.
He had recently worked on a dairy farm where he could have had contact with fresh cows' blood or ticks that carry the disease, Sive said.
"He has been an employee of a person diagnosed with Congo fever, and clinical signs and preliminary tests indicate the possibility that the patient was infected with the Congo Crimean haemorrhagic fever (CCHF)," Sive said.
Sive said the hospital's infection control team was in contact with local authorities, and the usual precautions were in place. On receipt of laboratory results, "a definitive diagnosis confirming or excluding CCHF will be made".
This is the second recent reported case of Congo fever in SA.
Francois Retief, a Murraysburg farmer, died in Port Elizabeth two weeks ago and his test results showed that he had contracted the disease.
Professor Bob Swanepoel of the National Institute of Virology said the disease was spread by certain ticks that preferred to bite livestock rather than humans.
One in three people died from the disease.