Ali Hazim Mustafa
Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a potentially fatal tick-borne disease that is widely distributed in Africa and Eurasia countries. It is caused by the CCHF virus of the Nairovirus genus of the Bunyaviridae family.
The aim is to review the medical case reports of all suspected and confirmed cases during this epidemic wave in Iraq to identify the factors that might have led to better management of the cases and adherence of physician to the standard case definition .
Methods: Three types of data sources were used: the case investigation forms of all suspected cases, the case sheets of all confirmed cases, and the laboratory results from the central public health laboratory (CPHL).
Results: The total number of suspected cases was 143 cases. Most of the cases were males (59.4%), 15-45 years old (62.2%), and live in urban areas (58.7%). About three quarters of the cases (68.5%) did not fit the standard case definition adopted by Iraq CDC. Most of the suspected cases were reported in Diwaniya province (20.3%). Nearly half of the suspected cases (64, 44.7%) occurred in June.
Only 7.0% of the total suspected cases were positive when tested by Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). The majority of confirmed cases (3, 30.0%) occurred in Diwaniya province.
Conclusion: Despite CCHF is uncommon in Iraq, sporadic cases or outbreaks could occur. During this epidemic wave, there were 10 confirmed cases with 8 deaths and 2 improved cases.
Recommendations: Banning of random livestock slaughtering and raising livestock inside residential areas have a major role in infection control.