Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever: A Potentially Fatal Outbreak in Pakistan

Abstract

Africa, the Balkans, parts of the Middle East, and Asia are endemic for tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF)¹. The disease is more common in persons infected with Hyalomma ticks or who come in contact with sick cattle tissues after slaughter². The virus, which has a high case-fatality rate, can cause epidemics in anyone who comes across infected bodily fluids and has caused health facility outbreaks.³The four illness load in Pakistan includes transmissible, not transmissible, mental disorders, and accidents. Additionally, some rising health problems are straining limited national healthcare resources. A good instance is Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).CCHF-endemic countries fight the infection. A World Health Organisation statement stated that roughly 212 instances, 27 of them life-threatening, were documented in Iraq in 2022 among different governorates. CCHF-free nations still test ticks for the disease⁴. The Ministry of Health in France found the very first CCHF in Hyalomma ticks from livestock in the southern Eastern Pyrenees⁵. Ticks have been reported in the Mediterranean coast, especially Corsica. Spain has documented domestically acquired illnesses in humans since 2016, including in medical practitioners⁶. The first documented CCHF patient in Pakistan was identified in 1976, with the following isolated instances and epidemics⁷.