What is Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever?
Hard ticks are both a reservoir and a vector for the CCHF virus. Numerous wild and domestic animals, such as cattle, goats, sheep and hares, serve as hosts for the virus. Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected animal blood or ticks. CCHF can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids. Documented spread of CCHF has also occurred in hospitals due to improper sterilization of medical equipment, reuse of injection needles, and contamination of medical supplies.
a. Persons living in endemic areas should use personal protective measures that include avoidance of areas where tick vectors are abundant and when they are active, regular examination of clothing and skin for ticks, and their removal; and use of repellents.
b. Persons who work with livestock or other animals in the endemic areas can take practical measures to protect themselves. These include the use of repellents on the skin (e.g. DEET) and clothing (e.g. permethrin) and wearing gloves or other protective clothing to prevent skin contact with infected tissue or blood.
c. Patients with suspected or confirmed CCHF should be isolated and cared for using barrier nursing techniques. Specimens of blood or tissues taken for diagnostic purposes should be collected and handled using universal precautions. Sharps (needles and other penetrating surgical instruments) and body wastes should be safely disposed of using appropriate decontamination procedures.
d. Healthcare workers are at risk of acquiring infection from sharps injuries during surgical procedures and, in the past, infection has been transmitted to surgeons operating on patients to determine the cause of the abdominal symptoms in the early stages of (at that moment undiagnosed) infection. Healthcare workers who have had contact with tissue or blood from patients with suspected or confirmed CCHF should be followed up with daily temperature and symptom monitoring for at least 14 days after the putative exposure.
e. When patients with CCHF are admitted to hospital, there is a risk of nosocomial spread of infection. In the past, serious outbreaks have occurred in this way and it is imperative that adequate infection control measures be observed to prevent this disastrous outcome.