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Source: The post is based on the article “Climate change aiding spread of deadly virus in Europe: What is CCHF” published in Indian Express on 18th July 2023
What is the News?
According to the World Health Organization(WHO), Climate Change is helping in the spread of deadly viruses like Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
What is Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF)?
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever(CCHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks.
Hosts: The virus is present in the tick family of insects. Animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and hares serve as amplifying hosts for the virus.
Transmission: Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood. CCHF can also be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids such as sweat and saliva.
First detected in: The disease was first described in the Crimean Peninsula in 1944 and given the name Crimean hemorrhagic fever.
– In 1969 it was recognized that the pathogen causing Crimean haemorrhagic fever was the same as that responsible for an illness identified in 1956 in the Congo Basin.
– The linkage of the two place names resulted in the current name for the disease and the virus.
Endemic countries: CCHF is endemic in all of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and in Asia.
Fatality rate: CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services as the virus can lead to epidemics. It also has a high case fatality ratio (10–40%).
– The first fatality from the disease in Europe was in Spain. In India, one person succumbed to CCHF last month in Gujarat.
Treatment: There is no vaccine for the virus in either humans or animals, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms.
How is Climate Change amplifying the spread of viruses like CCHF?
As temperature patterns are disrupted , pathogens are thriving in geographies that traditionally had a climate hostile to them.
For instance, Europe is generally known for colder climate. But now it is reeling under heatwave and wildfires.
This warmer temperature expands the habitat of ticks and other insects and gives them more time to reproduce. This is leading to spread of viruses like Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
