The Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a viral infection caused by the CCHF virus (CCHFV), a member of the family Bunyaviridae, genus Nairovirus. This virus is transmitted by ticks of the genus Hyalomma and has been reported in more than 30 countries in Africa, Asia, South-East Europe and the Middle East arising considerable public health concern in many regions of the world. The first case of CCHF was probably described by a Physician in Tajikistan in 1110 DC in a patient with hemorrhagic manifestations. More recently, CCHF was described - for the first time as a proper clinical entity - in 1944-45 when about 200 Soviet soldiers were infected while providing assistance to farmers in the Crimea during the Second World War.
However the virus was first isolated from a Patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo only in 1956. The disease is currently reported in Asia (China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, UAE, Oman, Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia), Africa (Mauritania, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa) and Europe. H. marginatum, the main vector of CCHF virus in Europe, is located in Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. In 2006 it was isolated for the first time in the Netherlands and in southern Germany.
Last date updated on April, 2024