Climate change has expanded the habitat of the tick that causes Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever
There Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever it is far from a recent tick-borne viral disease, but it has been making a comeback in recent weeks after senior UK public health officials called it “the biggest threat to public health today”, assuming an increase in infections not only in England, but also in France, Spain, Italy and the rest of Europe.
What is Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever
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First isolated in Crimea at the end of the Second World War and also identified in Congo in 1956, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever has a very high epidemic potential it’s a high mortality rate – up to 40% according to what was reported by the Italian Ministry of Health – but up to now the different outbreaks registered have always been registered south of the 50th northern parallel, the geographical limit of the tick which is the main vector of the infection, and always very contained .
The increasingly evident climatic changes, however, have increased the number of cases recorded, still sporadic at the moment, even outside those which until a few years ago were the areas where Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever was has now become endemic, from all of Africa to the Balkan area, passing through the Middle East and Pakistan. British experts have not spoken of an imminent alarm, but of a real risk which is added to the many other risks associated with climate change.
We saw just three years ago how quickly a virus can spread if the right measures are not taken and this is exactly what the British experts are referring to: it is necessary to start making information, to know the methods of transmission of the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, know how to recognize the symptoms and be ready to be able to administer the necessary therapies.
How does Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever spread?
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The disease can infect humans through a tick bite, but it is also possible to become infected through contact with infected animal tissue during and immediately after slaughter. There person-to-person transmissionthen, it can occur by contact with blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids.
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, symptoms and incubation
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The incubation period depends on how you got infected and can range from one day to up to 9 days. The symptoms are many and sometimes difficult to link together: fevermyalgia, dizzinesspain and neck stiffnessbut also back pain, headache, burning eyes and sensitivity to light.
During the initial stage infected people can manifest nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and sore throat, while with the continuation of the infection there may also be drowsiness, depression, exhaustion and liver enlargement up to the most serious cases in which these symptoms are also added enlarged lymph nodesrashes caused by skin bleeding and haemorrhagic rashes of the mucous membranes of the mouth and throat up to rapid renal and hepatic or pulmonary insufficiency.
The Italian Ministry of Health explains that the main approach in managing the disease is general supportive care and treatment of symptoms. The antiviral drug ribavirin it has been used to cure the infection with obvious benefits. Both oral and intravenous formulations appear to be effective.
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