Hyderabad erupts with a bacterial fever through animals and butchers. Several hospitals witnessed a long queues of fever-related cases causing harm to infants, oldies and less immunity people.
Hyderabad municipal authorities advised citizens to keep away from butchers, abbatiors and meat markets. And suggested to maintain hygeine and consume high immunity food to keep away several diseases which are causing harm to citizens nowadays.
Several butchers have been told to stay off slaughterhouses in Hyderabad following reports of an outbreak of Q fever, a contagious bacterial infection typically spread by cattle and goats, and carries flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, chest pain, diarrhoea and nausea.
Hyderabad-based National Research Centre on Meat (NRCM) confirmed through serological tests that five butchers among 250 samples had Q fever caused by the bacteria Coxiella burnetii. It said other zoonotic diseases like Psittacosis and hepatitis E were found in less than 5% of butchers. Psittacosis spreads from infected parrots to humans.
The disease prompted the Hyderabad civic authorities to order infected butchers to keep off slaughterhouses. They were advised to go for advanced diagnostic tests.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) chief veterinary officer Abdul Vakil said there’s no cause for alarm because only a few butchers have been infected.
NRCM scientists took the butchers’ consent, collected samples and ran the tests. “Seropositive tests reveal the presence of antibodies for that particular disease-causing microorganism. It doesn’t mean they are currently capable of infecting others,” said a veterinarian of GHMC.
It could be an ongoing infection or previously they were infected and developed antibodies. As they deal with cattle and sheep, the butchers are prone to infection through air-borne transmission,” he said.
To study the presence of Q fever, hepatitis E and other zoonotic diseases, NRCM has tied up with AIIMS, Bibinagar. Experts said unless the general population is tested, no inference can be drawn.
“There may or may not be a possibility of similar infection among others. We will have to conduct tests in the general population,” said a scientist of NRCM.
GHMC deputy director B Srinivas Reddy said NRCM did tests for brucellosis, Q fever and other pathogens in late last year. “The testing is done regularly. Those who tested positive, have been sent home,” he said. #hydnews #khabarlive #hydlive
About The Author
Faraaz Mohammed 
Adeel Mustafa