A case of hemorrhagic fever of the Crimea-Congo (known as CCHF) in Europa. A middle-aged man was in fact hospitalized in Spain with symptoms of the virus which causes, among other things, bleeding of the eyes. He was initially treated in a hospital in the Spanish region of Castile e León, before being flown elsewhere. CCHF is a disease with a mortality rate of 30%. Death that occurs within two weeks of the onset of the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever
Among the known symptoms of fever that originates from ticks besides eye bleeding, stomach pain, headache and vomiting. A patient may also experience joint pain, jaundice, mood swings, and red eyes in the early stages. As the virus progresses, symptoms can worsen to include “large areas of severe bruising” and “severe nosebleeds”. At the moment, there are no specific drugs available to treat CCHF, nor a vaccine against it, so experts work hard to stop its spread.
Prevention
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) stresses that “prevention, early diagnosis and nursing to patients are the only means of avoiding the spread of the virus”. The name comes from the virus first identified in Crimea in 1944, before it was first isolated in the Congo region over a decade later. The spread of the virus is very difficult and the Center for DisesaseCotnrol and Prevention (CDC) explained that ticks are a “reservoir and vector” for the disease. There Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever caused by a virus transmitted by ticks belonging to the genus Hyalomma. It has been identified in about thirty countries around the world. In recent years there has been a slight increase in cases with the identification of fever in South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, Mauritania, the Balkan countries, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.