An Emerging Biothreat: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus in Southern and Western Asia

Abstract

Tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is endemic in numerous countries, but the epidemiology and epizoology of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) remain to be defined for most regions of the world. Using a broad database search approach, we reviewed the literature on CCHF and CCHFV in Southern and Western Asia to better define the disease burden in these areas. We used a One Health approach, moving beyond a focus solely on human disease burden to more comprehensively define this burden by reviewing CCHF case reports, human and animal CCHFV seroprevalence studies, and human and animal CCHFV isolations. In addition, we used published literature to estimate the distribution of Hyalomma ticks and infection of these ticks by CCHFV. Using these data, we propose a new classification scheme for organizing the evaluated countries into five categories by level of evidence for CCHF endemicity. Twelve countries have reported CCHF cases, five from Southern Asia and seven from Western Asia. These were assigned to level 1 or 2. Eleven countries that have evidence of vector circulation but did not report confirmed CCHF cases were assigned to level 3 or 4. This classification scheme was developed to inform policy toward strengthening CCHF disease surveillance in the Southern and Western Asia regions. In particular, the goal of this review was to inform international organizations, local governments, and health-care professionals about current shortcomings in CCHFV surveillance in these two high-prevalence regions.

Seroprevalence of Crimean‐Congo haemorrhagic fever among three selected risk human groups in disease‐endemic region of Pakistan

“…Although CCHFV infection have been reported globally, however, most of the cases were reported from Southern and Western Asia (Blair et al, 2019). Varied level of seroprevalence observed in South Asian countries was 5.7% during 2016–17 in Pakistan (current study) and 0.5% during 2015–17 in India (Mourya et al, 2019), and in West Asian countries was 14.4% during 2012 in Turkey (Bayram et al, 2016), and 16.9% during 2011 in Iran (Mostafavi et al, 2017).…”

Genotypic analysis of ticks species infesting cattle in Al-Diwaniyah abattoir

“…For animals, infectious diseases from a long list can cause devastating effects on the health of wild and domestic animals such as protozoal illnesses; for example, babesiosis and theileriosis. On human health basis, many tick-borne diseases that represent a significant worrisome due to the consumption of beef and lamb, such as Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) that showed up in Iraq on several occasions, the last one in 2018 (17,18). Many ixodid ticks are used as both the CCHF vector and reservoir.…”

Contributions of the international plant science community to the fight against infectious diseases in humans—part 2: Affordable drugs in edible plants for endemic and re‐emerging diseases

“…Crimean‐Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is the most important tick‐borne viral disease in humans, causing sporadic cases or outbreaks of severe illness across a huge geographic area, from western China to the Middle East and south‐eastern Europe and throughout most of Africa, with fatality rates of 5–80% (Blair et al ., 2019 ). The virus responsible for this disease (CCHFV) is carried by many species of ticks, including at least 30 from the genera Haemaphysalis and Hyalomma .…”