Seroepidemiology and Risk Factors of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Among Butchers and Slaughterhouse Workers in Southeastern Iran Publisher Pubmed



Mostafavi E¹ ; Pourhossein B^{1, 2} ; Esmaeili S^{1, 3} ; Bagheri Amiri F⁴ ; Khakifirouz S⁵ ; Shahhosseini N⁵ ; Tabatabaei SM⁶ Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Infectious Diseases Published:2017

Abstract

Objective Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a viral zoonotic disease. Butchers and slaughterhouse workers are considered to be high risk occupational groups for the disease. Sistan and Baluchistan province is an area in southeastern Iran which is endemic for CCHF, and the most confirmed cases of the disease are reported from this province. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of CCHF and risk factors for seropositivity among them in Sistan and Baluchistan province in 2011. Methods Questionnaire data and blood sample collection were carried out for each participant and the sera samples were sent to the national reference laboratory for ELISA IgG testing. Results In this study, the seroprevalence of CCHF among 190 butchers and slaughterhouse workers from 11 counties was 16.49%. 79% of participants were aware that they were at risk of zoonosis and 39.7% did not use any personal protective equipment during their work. Of 31 CCHF IgG positive individuals in this study, eleven individuals had a previous record of CCHF infection in 57 months prior to the study. Conclusions High seroprevalence of CCHF among butchers and slaughterhouse workers and minimal use of personal protective equipment's during daily work indicates the need for training courses, for these groups to increase their knowledge, attitude and practice with respect to zoonosis. © 2017