Posted: 01:25, 26 March 2022 | Updated: 09:35, 26 March 2022
A woman in the United Kingdom has been diagnosed with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever after traveling to Central Asia, the UK Health Service has announced. Fever is a viral disease that is usually transmitted by ticks and animals in countries where the disease is endemic. This is only the third time since 2012 that a case has been identified in the United Kingdom. Health officials say the risk to public health is low, as the disease is usually transmitted through tick bites (stock image) that do not exist in the UK and are not easily transmitted between people. The World Health Organization map shows the distribution of CCHF cases worldwide by year. Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan and parts of Russia report more than 50 cases a year. Meanwhile, five to 49 are detected annually in parts of Europe (Bulgaria and Albania), Africa (South Africa, Sudan and Mauritania) and Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, China and Kazakhstan). The woman is receiving special care at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical consultant at UKHSA, said the virus “does not spread easily among humans and the overall risk to the public is very low”. According to the World Health Organization, about 30 percent of patients die, usually in the second week of infection. Symptoms appear suddenly and include fever, muscle aches, dizziness, mood swings, confusion and bleeding in the eyes and skin among a list of others. The glass tick is the main carrier and is found in North Africa, Asia and southern and eastern Europe.
