Crimean–Congo claims lives of 3 people in Iran

Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever has caused the death of three people in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21), said Mohammad Shirzadi, an official with the Iranian Ministry of Health.

Nine people have so far caught the disease in the current year, of them three have died, Iran’s Fars news agency quoted Shirzadi as saying June 24.

Three cases have been reported in Sistan-Baluchestan province, two cases have been reported in Mazandaran province, one case has been reported in Khaorasan Razavi province, one case has been reported in Kermanshah province, one case has been reported in Kerman province, and one case has been reported in Yazd province, he noted.

Since 2000, some 900 cases of Crimean–Congo fever have been reported in the country, and 144 of them have passed away, he said.

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 zoonotic 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%.

/By Trend/