Killer fever from Asia now in Britain
A WOMAN in Britain has been diagnosed with deadly Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever after travelling to Central Asia, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.
It is a viral disease usually transmitted by ticks and livestock animals in countries where the disease is endemic.
Having been diagnosed at the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the woman is now receiving specialist care at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UKHSA, said the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus “does not spread easily between people” and the risk to the public is very low.
It is the third known case of the fever in the UK, following cases in 2012 and 2014, neither of which spread.
The World Health Organisation states that about 30 per cent of patients die, usually in the second week of infection – and for patients who
do recover, improvement generally begins on the ninth or 10th day after the onset of illness.
Dr Hopkins said the agency was contacting people who have been in close contact with the woman to assess them and provide advice.
Symptoms of the virus include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain and stiffness, backache, headache, sore eyes and sensitivity to light. People can suffer nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sore throat early on, followed by mood swings and confusion. Dr Sir Michael Jacobs, consultant in infectious diseases at the Royal Free Hospital, said: “Our high-level isolation unit is run by an expert team of doctors, nurses, therapists and laboratory staff and is designed to ensure we can safely treat patients with these kind of infections.”
The Hyalomma tick is the main carrier of the fever but no tick of any kind in the UK has ever been detected to be carrying its virus. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control says the Hyalomma ticks mainly live in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia but they have been found in European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine.