Description of the situation
05 November 1996
Disease Outbreak Reported
The National Institute of Virology, Sandringham, which works in close collaboration with WHO, has reported an outbreak of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever in Oudtshoorn, Western Cape Province, among workers at an ostrich farm and slaughterhouse. There has recently been an increase in tick bites among these workers and 32 have been hospitalized (1 fatal case to date) with symptoms of the disease. Investigations were started on 4 November.