Scientists in the UK have warned the government about the "highly likely" arrival of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) due to climate change, the Mirror reported. CCHF is a viral hemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CCHF has a mortality rate of up to 40 per cent and is difficult to prevent or treat as it spreads by ticks or animal tissue. It's found in eastern Europe and now France. The 'deadly virus' kills nearly every second patient, as per reports.
Prof James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, told the government's Science, Innovation and Technology Committee that it was "highly likely" that CCHF would reach the UK at some point. But it is difficult to know which viruses will arrive and when, the report said.
"We don't know what is going to arrive until it does. Some tick-borne infections, so Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, are highly likely to spread in the UK through our ticks at some point," he was quoted as saying.
The scientists added that warmer weather in the UK will also pave the way for other diseases including Rift Valley fever, Zika, and ‘breakbone’ fever.
According to Professor Sir Peter Horby, Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University, climate change was mixing up the map of where to find certain illnesses. "Dengue, which is classically a South American, South East Asian disease and is hyperendemic in those countries (has) spread North, you're now seeing transmission in the Mediterranean," he said.
(With inputs from IANS)
