Serological Evaluation of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever in Humans With High-Risk Professions Living in Enzootic Regions of Isfahan Province of Iran and Genetic Analysis of Circulating Strains Publisher Pubmed



Chinikar S¹ ; Ghiasi SM¹ ; Naddaf S² ; Piazak N² ; Moradi M¹ ; Razavi MR² ; Afzali N¹ ; Haeri A³ ; Mostafavizadeh K⁴ ; Ataei B⁴ ; Khalilifardbrojeni M⁵ ; Husseini SM⁵ ; Bouloy M⁶ Show Affiliations
Source: Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Published:2012

Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a zoonotic viral disease that is asymptomatic in infected livestock, but causes a serious threat to humans with a mortality rate up to 50%. Although the CCHF virus (CCHFV) is often transmitted by ticks, livestock-to-human and human-to-human transmission also occurs. In the current study, we focused on CCHF in the province of Isfahan, located in the center of Iran and deemed to be the second most infected province. Human and livestock sera and resident ticks in the livestock are collected from different regions of the province and analyzed with specific IgG ELISA and RT-PCR tests. Overall, 12% and 12.7% of studied human and livestock populations were IgG positive, respectively. The genome of CCHFV was detected in 9% of ticks resident in livestock involved in this survey. The CCHFV isolates from infected ticks were genetically examined. Nucleotide sequence of the S-segment revealed that the different isolates were closely related to each other, with nucleotide sequence identities higher than 98%. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that a variant isolate clustered with the Iraq strain. This high proportion of IgG-positive sera and nearly high proportion of infected ticks increases the risk of CCHF outbreaks in the province and probably posits a great danger to other provinces. © 2012 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.