title: Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus in Bulgaria and Turkey.
abstract: Infections of humans with the tick-borne Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) can cause a severe hemorrhagic fever with case fatality rates of up to 80%. Most humans are infected by tick bite, crushing infected ticks by hand or by unprotected contact with blood of viremic mammals. Next to the notified human CCHF cases, the real distribution and the situation in animals in Southeastern Europe are nearly unknown. Since domestic ruminants play a crucial role in the life cycle of the vector ticks and the transmission and amplification of the virus, the antibody prevalence in those animals is a good indicator for the presence of CCHFV in a region. Therefore, the prevalence of CCHFV-specific antibodies was investigated in domestic ruminants of different regions of Bulgaria and Turkey. Sera of 1165 ruminants were tested and a prevalence of up to 90% was identified. The overall prevalence for Bulgaria was 26% and for Turkey 57%. The results highlight the risk of human infections in those regions and the importance of the investigation of the prevalence in animals for identification of risk areas. This article provides a unique overview about published CCHFV antibody prevalence in animals in comparison to human incidences in different areas of Bulgaria and Turkey. Although it will help to complete the understanding of the CCHFV situation in these countries, it also demonstrates the lack of unpublished and published data even in these highly endemic areas.
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health , Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany .
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mertens
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health , Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany .
authors.forename: Isolde
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health , Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany .
authors.forename: Miriam A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sas
authors.affiliation: 2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafkas University , Kars, Turkey .
authors.forename: Zati
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vatansever
authors.affiliation: 3 Institute of Vertebrate Biology , Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic .
authors.forename: Zdenek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hubalek
authors.affiliation: 4 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Atatürk University , Erzurum, Turkey .
authors.forename: Esin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Güven
authors.affiliation: 5 Etlik Veterinary Control Central Research Institute , Ankara, Turkey .
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deniz
authors.affiliation: 6 Risk Assessment Center , Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, Sofia, Bulgaria .
authors.forename: Georgi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Georgiev
authors.affiliation: 7 National Diagnostic Science and Research Veterinary Medical Institute , Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, Sofia, Bulgaria .
authors.forename: Raiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peshev
authors.affiliation: 1 Institute for Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health , Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany .
authors.forename: Martin H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Groschup
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D003225:Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006479:Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D006801:Humans; D012418:Ruminants; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013987:Ticks / Q000821:virology*; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D015047:Zoonoses
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral
keywords: Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus: CCHFV; ELISA; domestic animals; epidemiology