Iraq’s outbreak of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever is getting worse. The tick-borne illness has spread to 377 people in the country since the beginning of the year.
The disease that transmits from infected animals to human beings via ticks is impacting Iraq, the country’s health minister announced on Wednesday. The fatality rate to the disease in Iraq is 14 percent, Iraqi Minister of Health Saleh Mahdi Al-Hasnawi, told reporters in a presser held following a ministerial meeting on the status of the disease, of which 377 infections have been recorded since January this year.
Iraq recorded its first case of Crimean-Congo Fever firstly in 1979. Annually, the country records about 20 cases of the disease. CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services as the virus can lead to epidemics, has a high case-fatality ratio (10–40%), potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks, and is difficult to prevent and treat, according to the World Health Organization.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is caused by infection with a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus) in the family Bunyaviridae. The disease was first characterized in Crimea in 1944 and given the name Crimean hemorrhagic fever. It was then later recognized in 1969 as the cause of illness in the Congo, thus resulting in the current name of the disease. –Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
High fever and internal and external bleeding are the most common symptoms of the disease. Early symptoms include neck stiffness and headaches.
CCHF is likely to hit the United Kingdom as it spread across Europe. The disease has caused two reported deaths in Pakistan and several cases have been reported in Spain. Last week, insiders speaking to Parliament’s Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee revealed it was “highly likely” there could soon be cases in the UK, according to a report by The Liverpool Echo.
WHO Warns Europe’s Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak Could Be The Next Pandemic
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