Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: An emerging threat for the intensivist

Abstract

We present the case of a 55-year-old female, who presented with 15 days of fever with rash, pancytopenia, and altered behavior. She was investigated for routine causes of fever with rash and multi organ dysfunction and treated for the same. As she tested negative for all routine causes of such an illness and did not show improvement to therapy, she was investigated for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and tested positive for the same. She was started on ribavirin, but eventually succumbed to her illness. This disease has rarely been reported from the Northern India and we need to have high clinical suspicion for this deadly disease so that appropriate therapy can be started in time for the patient and prophylaxis given to all inadvertently exposed.