CRIMEAN-CONGO
HAEMORRHAGIC FEVER (CCHF) - SCI & TECH
News: Climate change aiding spread of
deadly virus in Europe
What's
in the news?
● As
Europe reels under a heatwave and
wildfires, the rising temperatures have also raised fears of spread of viruses
generally not found in colder climates.
● Alert
has been sounded about the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an
infection spread by ticks that has a high fatality rate, according to the World
Health Organization (WHO).
Key
takeaways:
● Scientists
are now warning that CCHF, which can kill
between 10% and 40% of patients, is spreading northward and westward in
Europe.
● Cases
have so far been reported in Spain, Russia and Turkey, and the UK.
● In
India, one person succumbed to CCHF last month in Gujarat, the state that
reports the majority of the country’s cases of this disease.
Crimean-Congo
haemorrhagic fever (CCHF):
● The
CCHF is endemic to Africa, the Balkan
countries, Middle East, and parts of Asia.
● The
first fatality from the disease in Europe was in Spain, in 2016.
Transmission:
● Crimean-Congo
haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral
haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks.
● It
can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal
tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately
post-slaughter of animals.
● Animals such as cattle, goats, sheep
and hares “serve as amplifying hosts for the virus.
● The
ticks can also be hosted by migratory birds, thus carrying the virus over long
distances.
Human
Transmission:
● Transmission
to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood.
● CCHF
can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with
infectious blood or body fluids, such as sweat and saliva.
Symptoms:
● CCHF
symptoms include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain, backache, headache,
sore eyes and sensitivity to light.
Treatment:
● There
is no vaccine for the virus in either
humans or animals, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms.
According to the WHO, “the antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF
infection with apparent benefit.”
Concerns:
● 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.
Fueled
by Climate Change:
● Climate
change contributes to the spread of diseases in multiple ways, including warmer
temperatures expanding the habitat of ticks and other insects and giving them
more time to reproduce; the habitat offered by water undergoing changes; and
animals moving to newer areas and people coming into contact with them.