Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Mauritania

Abstract

C rimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) occurs in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia (1). The virus is transmitted to humans through tick bites or direct contact with blood, secretions, or infected tissue of a viremic animal or person. The incubation period in humans is usually ≈5-6 days and hemorrhaging often occurs on the fourth or fifth day after onset of illness; ≈30% of human case-patients die. In Mauritania, CCHF was first documented in 1983 (2). Although several cases have been reported since, its current distribution is not well known. We report 2 cases of CCHF in 2019 in southern Mauritania. The first patient, a 51-year-old man, a cattle breeder who resided in Tintane, Hodh Elgharbi, was admitted to Kiffa Regional Hospital, Assaba, Mauritania, on June 17, 2019, for hemorrhagic syndrome. The patient began having symptoms, including abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and vomiting, 5 days prior. At admission, the patient was in a coma (Glasgow coma scale 8) and had a fever (temperature 41°C), epistaxis, gingivorrhagia, diffuse ecchymosis (Figure 1), pallor, rapid respiratory rate (20 breaths/min), and hypotension (60/40 mm Hg). Laboratory examinations showed severe anemia (3.5 mmol/L); leucocytosis (1.3 × 10 9 cells/L); severe thrombocytopenia (20 × 10 9 /L); prolonged prothrombin time (61%); and elevated urea (35 mmol/L), creatinine (2,298 µmol/L

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.…”

Geographical distribution and pathogenesis of ticks and tick-borne viral diseases

“…The first case of CCHFV was reported in a 51-year-old man in Tintane, Assaba, Mauritania, who had abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, a 41°C body temperature, epistaxis, gingivorrhagia, diffuse ecchymosis, severe anemia, thrombocytopenia, etc. ( Boushab et al, 2020 ). Later, an unusual CCHF case was reported in Nouakchott, Mauritania ( Kleib et al, 2016 ), raising the prospect of the virus spreading from Mauritania to West Africa ( Kleib et al, 2016 ).…”

Molecular and serological evidence of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus prevalence in livestock and ticks in Cameroon

“…Since the year 2000, at least nineteen African countries have described CCHF outbreaks in humans, showing the growing impact of this disease ( Temur et al., 2021 ; WHO, 2022b ). Indeed, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda have each reported at least three human outbreaks from 2010 to 2021 ( Zivcec et al., 2017 ; Boushab et al., 2020 ; Temur et al., 2021 ). Very little information is available on CCHF in Central Africa besides small-scale seroprevalence studies in cattle or humans ( Guilherme et al., 1996 ; Sas et al., 2017 ; Sadeuh-Mba et al., 2018 ; González Gordon and Bessell, 2022 ).…”