Following a tick bite in Spain, a man died of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an Ebola-like disease.
The 74-year-old died on Saturday from organ failure in an isolation unit at the La Paz-Carlos III Hospital in Madrid, Spain, according to a hospital spokesperson.
CCHF produces severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, which are similar to Ebola. The initial symptoms are usually a rapid fever, chills, vomiting, and diarrhoea, followed by mood swings and bewilderment.
It is also linked to bleeding, such as nasal bleeds, broken capillaries in the eyes, a rash caused by bleeding into the skin, and symptoms of internal bleeding including blood in urine or faeces.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is difficult to prevent and cure, with no vaccination available and a fatality rate of up to 40%.
It is primarily transmitted by ticks and contact with contaminated blood or tissue from farmed animals, but human-to-human transmission is possible, according to WHO.
The man went to a hospital in Móstoles on July 19, complaining of a fever and general malaise after being bitten by a tick in Buenasbodas, Toledo province, central Spain, some days earlier.
According to a hospital statement published on July 22, health officials determined that the guy was infected with CCHF on July 21 and sent him to the isolation unit of the La Paz-Carlos III Hospital the same day.
The announcement stated that he was in stable condition, but he died a week after its publication.
According to WHO, death usually happens during the second week of illness, and those who recover normally begin to notice an improvement in symptoms nine or ten days after becoming unwell.
The disease is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Asian nations south of the 50th parallel, according to the WHO.
According to Jacob Lorenzo-Morales, director of the Canary Islands Institute of Tropical Disease and Public Health at the University of La Laguna, the first case of CCHF in Spain was detected in 2016, and since then, one to three confirmed cases have been reported each year in the country’s centre and west.
Because the virus is carried by ticks, cases in Spain are often found between April and August of each year, according to Lorenzo-Morales, who adds that climate change has allowed ticks to multiply more swiftly and frequently.
Spain has devised a national plan to combat tick-borne diseases, including CCHF, but Lorenzo-Morales advises people to take precautions to avoid tick bites.
Wearing light-colored pants and long sleeves, boots or closed shoes with trousers tucked into socks, and using tick repellent are all recommended.
“CCHF is an emerging disease which is present in all of Western Europe,” he informed me.
Consuelo Giménez Pardo, a medical parasitology lecturer at the University of Alcalá in Madrid, told CNN that “there will undoubtedly be more cases” of CCHF in Spain.
The country provides favourable conditions for the virus because of its tick-friendly temperature and the fact that migrating birds bring ticks with them on their treks between Europe and Africa, both of which are near to Spain, she said Monday.
Although Giménez stated that CCHF is “a virus with wide distribution and high potential for human-to-human transmission,” through infected blood and bodily fluids, she also stated that it is asymptomatic in humans in up to 90% of instances, with most people experiencing only minor symptoms.
Nonetheless, “one case is considered an outbreak,” she explained.
Professor Emma Thomson of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine described the case as “concerning” and emphasised the discovery of CCHF in ticks in both Spain and France.
“I expect that we will see more cases in the coming years,” Thomson said on Monday. “There is a risk also of spread to other European countries including the UK.”