A view of Khanaqin district. (Photo: 964media)
Cases rise nationwide
New hemorrhagic fever case recorded in Khanaqin as health teams step up inspections
KHANAQIN — A new case of hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in the town of Gulale (Jalawla) in the southern part of Khanaqin district, health authorities said Saturday.
Fares Azawi, head of the Diyala Health Directorate’s media office, told 964media that the infected individual is a 35-year-old man who works transferring meat from slaughterhouses to butcher shops.
Hemorrhagic fever, a viral infection transmitted through contact with infected animals, their meat, or tick bites, has become a recurring concern in Iraq, particularly in agricultural regions with frequent human-animal contact.
Azawi said the man tested positive following medical examinations and was placed in isolation at a hospital in Baquba. He added that the patient’s condition is stable and that health teams have provided the necessary treatment.
On the same day, health teams conducted intensive inspections across butcher shops and meat markets in Gulale, confiscating more than 100 kilograms of unsafe meat and closing one butcher shop.
As of April 24, the Iraqi Ministry of Health confirmed that cases of hemorrhagic fever have risen to 26 across the country since the beginning of the year, with the death toll now at four following a new fatality recorded in Kirkuk on Thursday.
The third fatality was confirmed in Muthanna governorate. Earlier in the month, Kirkuk recorded the first two deaths of the year—a 30-year-old butcher from Daquq district and a nurse—both of whom died after being treated at Kirkuk General Teaching Hospital.
