SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Iraqi ministry of health warned on Saturday of spread of hemorrhagic fevers in the country, saying it is a “fatal disease”.
General director at the Iraqi health ministry Haitham Obeidi said three cases of viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHF) had been recorded in Iraq.
Two of the cases were registered in Dhi Qar province and the other was in Anbar, Obeidi added.
Obeidi warned that the disease “is fatal and 60 percent of those infected with the virus dies”.
The VHF refers to a group of illness that are caused by several distinct families of viruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says the VHF includes a “spectrum of relatively mild to severe life-threatening disease characterized by sudden onset of muscle and joint pain, fever, bleeding and shock from loss of blood.”
“In severe cases, one of the most prominent symptoms is bleeding, or haemorrhaging, from orifices and internal organs,” the WHO says.
According to the WHO, there are multiple modes of transmission for the VHF, including person to person through direct contact with symptomatic patients, body fluids, or cadavers.
