A woman has been diagnosed in the UK with Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever following travel to Central Asia, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said. Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever is a viral disease usually transmitted by ticks and livestock animals in countries where the disease is endemic.
The woman was diagnosed at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is receiving specialist care at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UKHSA, said the virus “does not spread easily between people and the overall risk to the public is very low”.
It is the third known case of the fever in the UK, with prior cases reported in 2012 and 2014, both of which did not spread. According to the World Health Organisation, around 30% of patients die, usually in the second week of infection.
