A RARE disease known as Congo fever has claimed its first victims in India, officials said on Wednesday, after a patient, her doctor and a nurse all died in the western state of Gujarat.

Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which killed three people in Gujarat earlier this week, state owned hospitals in Gujarat has been put on red alert. Professor M D Gajjar, who is head of the department of a civil hospital in Ahmedabad, said that the government is well aware of the current situation and is all geared up to tackle it.

Samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, which confirmed CCHF. A doctor who declined to be named said the deaths were India’s first recorded Congo fever fatalities.

Specialist teams from the NIV have flown to Gujarat to monitor any further outbreak of the disease, which can be passed between animals and humans.