A 35-year-old man from Jodhpur, who was admitted to AIIMS yesterday amid fears that he had contracted Ebola, died today due to excessive internal bleeding even as doctors said it was unlikely that he was infected by the deadly virus.
However, according to AIIMS authorities, the patient appears to have been suffering from Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), another disease caused by a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus).
CCHF is an infection spread by animals and people who work closely with animals and has symptoms similar to Ebola and dengue like high temperature, headache, muscle pain, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, convulsions and external and internal bleeding.
"His samples have been sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune and to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to ascertain whether he was infected by the Ebola virus or died due to CCHF," said a senior doctor at AIIMS.
"It appears to be a case of CCHF, which is also highly contagious and can spread with close contact with the blood, secretions or other bodily fluids of infected persons.It is unlikely that he was suffering from Ebola as he doesn't have any history of travelling," said the doctor.
The patient was referred to AIIMS by a private hospital in Jodhpur in Rajasthan and was admitted to the department of medicine yesterday with symptoms of high-grade fever and vomiting.
According to an Union Health Ministry official, if the patient's tests for CCHF turns out to be positive, it will be the first case of CCHF reported in Delhi and "is a matter of worry as he was not being treated in an isolation ward".
"As the patient was not treated in the isolation ward, the AIIMS staff are anxious about the outcome of the tests," said the doctor.
"CCHF has become endemic in Gujarat with numerous confirmed cases being reported from Bhuj, Amreli and Vadnagar
Since it was first detected in Sanand in 2011. The deadly fever has claimed the first life in Gujarat in December last year," said the Health Ministry official.
The Ebola virus has killed more than 7,800 people, almost all in West Africa, since it broke out a year ago. One of the deadliest viruses known to man, Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms such as fever or vomiting.
