title: Seroprevalance of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Bulgarian livestock.
abstract: Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne zoonotic disease. Over the past decade, CCHF cases in humans have emerged in Turkey and reemerged in the Balkan countries, Ukraine and Tajikistan. Occupational contact with infected livestock has been recognized as a common cause of the disease. A cross-sectional seroprevalence study in livestock was conducted in farming communities of an endemic area in Bulgaria, southeastern Europe. Overall, 72% of the tested animals were positive for IgG antibodies to CCHF virus. By the time the animals were one-year old almost 50% had serologic evidence of CCHF infection, and by two years already 80% of them had been infected. The data obtained in this study reflect current situation of CCHF virus infection among livestock in Bulgaria. The results showed active CCHF virus circulation that poses risk for humans to be infected during contacts with animals and requires public health awareness.
authors.affiliation: Naval Medical Center, Division of Infectious Diseases , San Diego , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barthel
authors.affiliation: Viral and Zoonotic Diseases Research Program, Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-3) , Cairo , Egypt.
authors.forename: Emad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mohareb
authors.affiliation: Viral and Zoonotic Diseases Research Program, Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-3) , Cairo , Egypt.
authors.forename: Rasha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Younan
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Teodora
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gladnishka
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kalvatchev
authors.affiliation: Viral and Zoonotic Diseases Research Program, Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-3) , Cairo , Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moemen
authors.affiliation: Viral and Zoonotic Diseases Research Program, Naval Medical Research Unit #3 (NAMRU-3) , Cairo , Egypt.
authors.forename: Sameh S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMIID) , Fort Detrick , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.affiliation: US Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMIID) , Fort Detrick , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Randal
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schoepp
authors.affiliation: Microbiology Department, National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases (NCIPD) , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Iva
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Christova
keywords: Bulgaria; Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever; livestock; serology