HEALTH: Beware of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever

The virus is spread by Hyalomma, or bont-legged ticks, and the disease can be fatal for human beings if it is left untreated.

- 

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne viral zoonotic which occurs in Africa, eastern Europe and Asia.

A disease given the name Crimean haemorrhagic fever was first recognised on the Crimean Peninsula in 1944, although the virus which causes the disease was only identified in 1967. In 1956, a virus was isolated from a child with fever in the former Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo).

In 1969 it was discovered that the two viruses were the same.

Human CCHF cases have been reported annually in South Africa since 1981, when it was first recognised in the country, notes the Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (CEZD).

The virus is transmitted by Hyalomma or bont-legged ticks, which have distinctive brown and white bands on their legs. The virus can remain in the ticks for long periods, and even pass through the eggs to infect the next generation of ticks.