Baku, Azerbaijan, July 19
By Fatih Karimov– Trend:
At least 80 people in Iran have caught the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever since March 21, Karim Amiri, an official with the Islamic Republic’s veterinary organization, said.
The fever has caused the death of five people in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21, 2017), Amiri said, Mehr news agency reported July 19.
No Crimean-Congo fever case has reported so far in the capital city of Tehran, he added.
The cases have been reported mainly in eastern border provinces, where is livestock illegally smuggled into the country.
Since 2000, at least 988 cases of Crimean-Congo fever have been reported in Iran, according to the Iranian officials.
Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a widespread tick-borne viral disease that is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia. The virus is a member of the Bunyaviridae family of RNA viruses.
It is a disease carried by several domestic and wild animals. While clinical disease is rare in infected animals, it is severe in infected humans, with a mortality rate of 10-40 percent.