China confirms first Rift Valley Fever case

The first imported case of the deadly Rift Valley Fever has been confirmed in China in a middle-aged man who had returned from Angola, officials said today.
The 45-year-old man surnamed Tang from Henan Province got fever and headache and suffered pain in his joints and muscles on July 14 in Angola, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said.
On July 21, he returned Beijing by plane and was admitted to a local hospital for quarantine and treatment and was tested positive for Rift Valley Fever (RVF) late yesterday.
The patient is currently in critical condition and is receiving treatment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

RVF is an acute, fever-causing viral disease most commonly observed in domesticated animals (such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels), with the ability to infect and cause illness in humans.
The disease spreads by either touching infected animal blood, breathing in the air around an infected animal being butchered, drinking raw milk from an infected animal or the bite of infected mosquitoes.

The virus was first identified in 1931 during an investigation into an epidemic among sheep on a farm in the Rift Valley of Kenya.
Since then, outbreaks have been reported in sub-Saharan and North Africa.
According to WHO, RVF cases were confirmed in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, marking the first reported occurrence of the disease outside the African continent and raising concerns that it could extend to other parts of Asia and Europe.