Iraq: Kirkuk reports 1st death due to Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever this year [Video]

NewsDesk @bactiman63

Officials in Kirkuk province, Iraq, about 150 miles north of Baghdad, have reported the first human fatality due to the viral infection, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF).

According to Dr. Sabah Namiq, the head of the public health section at the Kirkuk Health Directorate, the 29-year-old man was believed to have had “interactions with animals” in Taza town in southern Kirkuk.

This is the second infection that has been recorded in a week, the official said. Another man, suspected to have been infected by drinking milk from a sick animal, had been recovered and discharged, according to a Kurdistan24 report.

Iraq has reported some 150 human CCHF cases year to date, including more than 20 deaths.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus) of the Bunyaviridaefamily. The CCHF virus causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate …