Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Mar 23;14(1):63.
doi: 10.1186/s12985-017-0726-4.

The reasons why Pakistan might be at high risk of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever epidemic; a scoping review of the literature

Muhammad Atif  1 , Anum Saqib  2 , Raazeyah Ikram  1 , Muhammad Rehan Sarwar  1 , Shane Scahill  3
Affiliations

The reasons why Pakistan might be at high risk of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever epidemic; a scoping review of the literature

Muhammad Atif et al. Virol J. .

Abstract

Pakistan has faced a number of significant healthcare challenges over the past decade. In 2000, one of these events - a deadly epidemic of Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) - struck Pakistan. The people of Pakistan are at a very high risk of acquiring CCHF, due to a number of factors which emerge from a scoping review of the literature. First, the underdeveloped healthcare system of the country is currently not prepared to cope with challenges of this nature. Healthcare professionals and medical institutes are not sufficiently equipped to properly diagnose, manage and prevent CCHF. Second, a large percentage of the general public is unaware of the spread and control of the vector. The agricultural sector of Pakistan is vast and thus many people are involved in animal husbandry and the handling of livestock which can lead to the transmission of the CCHF virus. Even in urban areas the risk of transmission is significantly higher around the time of Eid-ul-Azha, when Muslims slaughter animals. Finally, the political upheavals faced by the country have also increased Pakistan's vulnerability because a large number of refugees from Afghanistan, a CCHF endemic country, have migrated to Pakistan as a result of the Afghan war. Most of the refugees and their animals settle in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, which consequently have a higher prevalence of CCHF. This scoping review of the literature highlights the potential causes of high risk CCHF and draws conclusions and makes recommendations that policy-makers in Pakistan may wish to consider in-order to improve on the current situation.

Keywords: CCHF; CCHFV; Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever; Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Virus; Eid-ul-Azha; Pakistan.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Death Toll of Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever cases in Pakistan during 2012-2016 [13, 18, 19]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Biannual surge in CCHFV infection cases between March to May and July to September during 2011-2014 in Pakistan [29]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fajs L, et al. Prevalence of crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus in healthy population, livestock and ticks in Kosovo. PLoS One. 2014;9(11):e110982. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110982. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bente DA, et al. Crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever: history, epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical syndrome and genetic diversity. Antiviral Res. 2013;100(1):159–89. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2013.07.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Khurshid A, et al. CCHF virus variants in Pakistan and Afghanistan: Emerging diversity and epidemiology. J Clin Virol. 2015;67:25–30. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2015.03.021. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alam MM, et al. Genetic analysis and epidemiology of crimean congo hemorrhagic fever viruses in Baluchistan province of Pakistan. BMC Infect Dis. 2013;13(1):201. doi: 10.1186/1471-2334-13-201. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gerland P, et al. World population stabilization unlikely this century. Science. 2014;346(6206):234–237. doi: 10.1126/science.1257469. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources