Serologic survey of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in high risk people in slaughter house, livestock owners and livestock in Kurdistan Province

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-born zoonotic disease that can be transmitted to human by tick-bite and contact with blood, body fluids or tissues of infected animals and is associated with hemorrhagic presentation and high mortality rate. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroepidemiology of CCHF in high risk people and animals in Kurdistan Provinces.
Material and Samples were taken from 100 people at risk of the disease who were selected randomly from slaughter house workers (n=20), livestock owners (n= 80). Also, we obtained samples from both sexs of cows (n=150) and sheep (n=150) with the age ranges of less than 1 year, 1-3 years and ≥3 years, during the four seasons. Clinical signs and history of contact with ticks were recorded, and then serum samples were collected and tested by indirect immunofluorescent assay for detection of CCHF specific IgG.
In this study we did not find any positive result for CCHF from animal and human samples.
Our results provided no evidence of human and animal exposure to CCHF virus which could be due to low prevalence of CCHF in Kurdistan. Thus, further studies including larger sample size and also virus isolation particularly from ticks, are recommended.