A 14-year-old boy has contracted a deadly infection that kills 30 percent of patients and causes horrific symptoms such as bleeding from the eyes.
The teenager infected with the virus, called Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), is currently isolated in hospital.
The disease, which causes multiple organ failure, is transmitted through the bites of infected ticks or by direct contact with the blood of an infected animal.
The latest patient is from Pakistan, where another suspected case has also been reported.
The World Health Organization map shows the distribution of CCHF cases worldwide by year. Turkey, Iran, Uzbekistan and parts of Russia record more than 50 cases per year. Meanwhile, in parts of Europe (Bulgaria and Albania), Africa (South Africa, Sudan and Mauritania) and Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, China and Kazakhstan) between 5 and 49 cases are detected annually.
Health officials said the risk to public health was low as the disease is usually spread through tick bites which are not present in the UK and is not easily transmitted between people. Pictured: A stock image of a tick
While CCHF is endemic in places with warm climates, experts warn it could soon reach the UK.
While CCHF is endemic in places with warm climates, experts warn it could soon reach the UK.
Professor Isabel Oliver, chief scientific adviser at the UK’s Health Security Agency, previously said the risk of the disease infecting Britons could increase due to global warming.
Experts say climate change may cause infected ticks to travel further and thrive in new environments.
A report published last year revealed that similar bacteria carrying several diseases, including Rift Valley fever, were found in 26 European countries.
Other diseases that have put health officials on high alert include dengue, chikungunya, West Nile disease, yellow fever and Zika.
Symptoms of Congo hemorrhagic fever usually appear within three days of being bitten by an infected tick and include fever, muscle pain, dizziness, and eye pain.
The World Health Organization says nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and mood swings are also common early signs of the disease.
Within a week, patients may also experience rapid heartbeat, bleeding rashes, and bleeding from small capillaries, such as around the eyes.
Organs such as the liver begin to fail.
Treatments for the disease are limited, although doctors have seen some success with the antiviral drug ribavirin, which is used to treat hepatitis C.
The disease was first detected in Crimea in 1944 and was named Crimean hemorrhagic fever.
But in 1969, doctors realized that the pathogen that triggered this disease was responsible for a disease identified in the Congo in 1956.
This led to the virus being named Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, to cover both locations.
It is currently endemic in Africa, the Middle East and some Asian countries.
According to the WHO, previous FHC outbreaks have killed between 10 and 40 percent of those infected.
In 2022, doctors in London announced they were treating a woman with CCHF who had recently traveled to Central Asia.
This was only the third case recorded in England.
The following year, the virus was first detected in France.
Live ticks collected from livestock in the Pyrénées-Orientales region were found to be carriers of the disease.
UKHSA’s Professor Oliver said the risk to the British public was currently “very low”.
