Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever: New terrifying VIRUS sweeps Europe…and there’s no vaccine

Express – by FELICITY THISTLETHWAITE

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a virus primarily transmitted to people from ticks and animals. While it might not be a commonly-discussed disease, CCHF outbreaks – which causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks – have a fatality rate of up to 40 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation.

Worryingly the virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals – but human-to-human transmission can occur after close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected persons.   

There is no vaccine available for either people or animals.

The panic around CCHF is spreading fast after a man died in Spain from the disease.

El Espanol, a national newspaper in Spain, reported on the issue again today after the Ministry of Health published a report about the virus.The paper claims the report was triggered by the appearance of ticks “infected with the virus in the province of Cáceres” – a city in western Spain’s Extremadura region.

Raul, the 62 year-old man who died, contracted the CCHF disease during a walk in the Castilla-Leon region.

The death is believed to be the first non-imported case of the disease reported in Western Europe. It is believed the disease came from a tick bite.

GETTY

This is a picture of a man suffering with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

The Ministry of Health report reads: “Given the repeated appearance of the virus since 2010 in ticks captured in a zone of Extremadura, and the detection in September 2016 of a human case infected after exposure to a tick and a second case of infection in a nurse after close contact with the previous case in Madrid, it is relevant to update the risk assessment of this disease in our country after the one held in 2011.”

The paper highlights the Ministry of Health stressed that “the detection of a human case by nosocomial transmission highlights the importance of early detection and the need to implement appropriate prevention and control measures in case of suspecting hemorrhagic fever.”

Spanish health authorities are no longer ruling out more indigenous cases of CCHF.

CCHF is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries south of the 50th parallel north – the geographical limit of the principal tick vector.

Back in October 2012 a man died in the Royal Free Hospital in London after contracting CCHF from a trip to Afghanistan.

It was the first laboratory-confirmed case of CCHF in the UK, according to the Health Protection Agency.

At the time, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust said: “Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever can be acquired from an infected patient only through direct contact with their blood or body fluids, therefore there is no risk to the general public.”

He was diagnosed when he returned to Glasgow on a flight from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Signs and symptoms of CCHF

Initial signs include headache, high fever, back pain, joint pain, stomach pain, and vomiting.

Red eyes, a flushed face, a red throat, and red spots on the roof of the mouth are also common.

Symptoms may also include jaundice, and in severe cases, changes in mood and sensory perception.

As the illness progresses, large areas of severe bruising, nosebleeds and uncontrolled bleeding at injection sites can be seen, beginning on about the fourth day of illness and lasting for about two weeks.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/708622/Crimean-Congo-Hemorrhagic-Fever-CCHF-vaccine