Senegal has confirmed the first death from the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus in the country.
The 35-year-old patient was admitted to the Dalal Jamm Hospital on the outskirts of the capital Dakar after he developed symptoms, the Health Ministry said in a statement late Saturday.
The case was detected on April 21 in the Dalal Jamm hospital in Guediawaye, the health ministry said in the statement. The authorities say a health emergency task force has been activated to oversee the response.
How serious is the disease?
Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick borne virus that can also transmit between humans by close contact with blood or bodily fluids, the World Health Organisation says. It has a fatality rate of between 10% and 40%. Both animals and people can contract the virus.
Symptoms of the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, light sensitivity and vomiting, and can lead to organ failure and internal bleeding.
According to WHO, the disease was first described in the Crimean Peninsula in 1944 and given the name Crimean haemorrhagic fever.
But in 1969 it was recognized that the pathogen causing Crimean haemorrhagic fever was the same as that responsible for an illness identified in 1956 in the Congo Basin. The linkage of the two place names resulted in the current name for the disease and the virus.
The virsu is now found in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and some Asian countries.
Recent outbreaks in Africa have been limited in scope. According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest recent outbreak was detected in Mauritania in 2003, with 35 cases and six deaths. South Africa had 17 cases and five deaths in 2011.
Any person can contract the disease if exposed to the virus. But people at greater risks include agricultural workers largely due to exposure to ticks and animals and slaughterhouse workers exposed to the blood and tissues of infected livestock.
Others are medical personnel and people taking care of infected persons due to potential contact with bodily fluids of the patients.
Is there an effective vaccine?
The affected animals can also be quarantined for at least two weeks to ensure they become tick-free and will reduce risks of transmission to human. There are currently no vaccines available for use in animals.
Similarly, although an inactivated, mouse brain-derived vaccine against CCHF has been developed and used on a small scale in eastern Europe, there is currently no ''safe and effective vaccine'' widely available for human use, WHO confirms.
In the absence of an effective vaccine, the only way to reduce infection in people is by raising awareness of the risk factors and educating people about the measures they can take to reduce exposure to the virus.
What about treatment?
General supportive care with treatment of symptoms is the main approach to managing CCHF in people.
The antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF infection with apparent benefit, according to WHO. Both oral and intravenous formulations seem to be effective, it said.
It is difficult to prevent or control the disease in animals and ticks as the tick-animal-tick cycle usually goes unnoticed and the infection in domestic animals is usually not obvious.
The world health body urged tick control measures such as the use of tick-killing chemicals as the only realistic option for well-managed livestock production facilities.
CCHF virus infection can be diagnosed by several different laboratory test including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), antigen detection, serum neutralization, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay and virus isolation by cell culture.
The World Health Organisation says patients with fatal disease, as well as in patients in the first few days of illness, ''do not usually develop a measurable antibody response and so diagnosis in these individuals is achieved by virus or RNA detection in blood or tissue samples.''
Six ways to protect yourself
Health experts say although there are no safe and effective vaccines against Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic fever, people in vulnerable areas can minimise the risks of contracting the disease in a number of ways including the following five as provided by WHO:
. Avoid close physical contact with CCHF-infected people, wear gloves and protective equipment when taking care of ill people, and wash hands regularly after caring for or visiting them.
. Wear protective clothing including long sleeves and long trousers. It is also essential to wear gloves and other protective clothing while handling animals or their tissues in endemic areas especially during slaughtering, butchering and culling procedures.
. Use approved acaricides - meaning - chemicals intended to kill ticks on clothing as well as use repellent on the skin and clothing.
.Regularly examine clothing and skin for ticks. If found, remove them safely and immediately. Wear light coloured clothing to allow easy detection of the blood-sucking insects on the clothes.
.Try as much as possible to avoid areas where ticks are abundant and seek to safely eliminate or control infestations of the blood-sucking parasites on animals or in stables and barns.
.Quarantine animals before they are taken to slaughterhouses or routinely treat animals with pesticides two weeks prior to slaughter.
