Molecular detection of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) Virus in tick species collected from livestock in Marvdasht, Fars province during 2012-2013

Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a potentially lethal systemic viral disease in human beings, which is transmitted by tick bites. In nature, the triggering virus is found in vertical and horizontal cycles between the tick vectors and different species of domestic and wild vertebrates which are circulated and maintained. The purpose of this study was to determine the viral infection were collected from livestock ticks in the Marvdasht, Iran. In this cross sectional study, samples were randomly selected from 6 villages near marvdasht. A total of two hundred ticks (hard and soft) from sheep, goats and cattle were collected and the related information was recorded. Ticks were sent to the laboratory under appropriate conditions of humidity and temperature. They were identified to species level using valid entomological keys. The identified ticks were transferred to the National Reference Laboratory for Arboviruses. The Ticks infections were analyzed by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) to detect CCHF virus genome. The results indicated that viral genotypes were present in at least 9 samples 4.5%) of the studied tick population. The infected ticks belonged to Hyalomma marginatum‚ Hyalomma anatolicum and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. Due to confirming the cycle of the virus, it can be mentioned that CCHF has recently emerged as an important public health problem in this region and systematic performance monitoring and control programs to reduce the livestock population, distribution, inform and educate high-risk occupations of vectors is required.