CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC FEVER – IRAQ (11): UPDATE / حمى القرم الكنغولية النزفية – العراق (11): تحديث
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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Date: Wed 10 Jul 2024
Source: Alsumaria [in Arabic, trans. Mod.NS, abridged, edited]
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After hemorrhagic fever cases increased in Iraq to 133 cases, including 14 deaths, the Ministry of Agriculture adopted urgent health and preventive measures to limit the spread of the disease, coinciding with the advent of the holy month of Muharram.
The Director General of the Veterinary Department of the Ministry, Dr. Thamer Habib Hamza Al-Khafaji, stated that the procedures included directing hospitals and dispensaries, in coordination with the administrative authority in the governorates, of the necessity of informing the owners of the unauthorized street slaughtering places not to slaughter livestock outside the official slaughterhouses, given the presence of 3 of slaughterhouses in Karbala Governorate, 2 for poultry and one for livestock.
Al-Khafaji added that the directives included monitoring the livestock accompanying the Husseini processions, with the necessity of spraying and dousing them with pesticides to eliminate ticks, and not granting a veterinary certificate for the movement or slaughter of animals, except after 14 days have passed from the date of spraying them.
Al-Khafaji indicated that if the slaughterhouses cannot accommodate the number of livestock, they must define areas for slaughtering by following up with governors, using mobile slaughterhouses, and emphasizing spraying livestock-selling areas with pesticides to protect visitors from disease.
Regarding the number of infections in Baghdad and the governorates, Al-Khafaji explained that they have reached 133 so far, including 14 deaths. Dhi Qar Governorate topped the numbers with 31 cases, including 4 deaths, while the number reached 19 cases in Baghdad, including one death. Erbil has recorded the lowest number of infections: 2 cases with no deaths.
Al-Khafaji stressed that the veterinary departments, in cooperation with their health counterparts in Baghdad and the provinces, especially Karbala, will continue their campaigns throughout the visit to fumigate and sterilize the Husseini processions, with the necessity of wearing masks and gloves when dealing with livestock.
Al-Khafaji called for intensifying awareness and guidance campaigns about the seriousness of the disease by distributing awareness folders to the owners of Husseini processions.
In addition, the Municipality of Mosul, in cooperation with Nineveh Health, launched a major campaign that ended with the closure of a large number of illegal butcher shops, against the backdrop of the emergence of several hemorrhagic fever cases in the governorate, according to its director, Abdul Sattar Al-Habo.
Al-Habo stated that the closure came after the special committees monitored the non-compliance of the owners of those shops with health and environmental slaughter controls. He stressed that his department has warned all shop owners of the necessity of adhering to health and environmental conditions. Otherwise, strict penalties will be imposed against those who violate them.