Second International Conference on Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Abstract

The Second International Conference on Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) was held in Thessaloniki, Greece, from September 10-13, 2017, and brought together international public health professionals, clinicians, ecologists, and basic laboratory researchers. Nearly 100 participants, representing 24 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO), were in attendance. Meeting sessions covered the epidemiology of CCHF in humans; ticks and virus-tick interactions; wild and domestic animal hosts; molecular virology; taxonomic classification; pathogenesis and animal models; clinical aspects and diagnosis; clinical management and clinical trials; and disease prevention in humans. The concluding session focused on recent WHO recommendations for public health measures and future research. This report summarizes lectures by the invited speakers and highlights advances in the field.

Fig. 1.

Geographic distribution of CCHF. Distribution of the principal tick vector of CCHF (pale yellow), of countries where serologic testing shows evidence of endemicity (yellow), and countries reporting from 5 to 49 (orange) and more than 50 cases (red) per year. The northernmost limit of Hyalomma ticks is demonstrated by a grey demarcation at latitude of 50° north. Courtesy of Pierre Formenty, WHO. Updated maps available at: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/crimean_congoHF/en/.

Fig. 2.

Maintenance of CCHF in nature and modes of transmission to and between humans. Courtesy of Pierre Formenty, WHO.