Iraq records 13 deaths from Congo haemorrhagic fever this year

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According to the health ministry, at least 13 individuals have died in Iraq since the beginning of the year as a result of a viral tick-borne illness transferred to humans from animals.

In Iraq, around 100 additional people have been infected with Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which claimed many more lives last year.

According to ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr, at least 212 persons were infected in 2022, with 27 deaths.

The majority of individuals sick are livestock producers from the rural southern province of Dhi Qar, as well as slaughterhouse employees.

The World Health Organization defines CCHF as a  "viral tick-borne disease that is transmitted to humans by bites of infected ticks, and by direct contact with blood or tissues from infected humans and livestock".

The virus has a death rate of up to 40% and is primarily transmitted to humans by way of tick bites or infected livestock, according to the WHO.

It was originally identified in 1979 in Iraq, where decades of war and turmoil had wreaked havoc on government systems, especially the healthcare system.

Transmission can occur from human to human through contact with the blood, organs, secretions, or bodily fluids of infected people. Moreover, there is no vaccine available for this disease, either for people or animals.

At least 40 cases of the disease were detected in different parts of the country this year, the spokesperson of the Iraqi Health Ministry told The National. However, since the cases are limited, it still hasn't been called an epidemic.

Iraq normally records up to 20 cases a year, which result in one or two deaths. 23 of the cases, five of which resulted in death, were recorded in the southern Iraqi Province of Thi Qar. Half of the infected have recovered.