Prevalence of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in healthy population, livestock and ticks in Kosovo

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 13;9(11):e110982. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110982. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is an acute, tick borne disease often associated with hemorrhagic presentations and high case fatality rate. Kosovo is a highly endemic area for CCHF, with a significant case fatality rate. The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of CCHF in Kosovo. We tested 1105 serum samples from healthy population in both endemic and non-endemic areas in the country. Our results revealed a seroprevalence of 4.0% (range 0-9.3%) which is comparable to the seroprevalence in other countries. We show that seroprevalence is correlated to the disease incidence in each studied municipality. We also tested 401 animal sera (353 cow, 30 sheep, 10 goat and 8 chicken) in four endemic municipalities in Kosovo. We detected specific antibodies in all animals except in chicken. Seroprevalence in cows is comparable to other endemic areas and correlates to the seroprevalence in humans. No CCHF RNA could be detected in 105 tick samples obtained in 2012 and 2013. Sequencing of CCHFV positive ticks from 2001 revealed that the virus is most closely related to viral strains that were detected in CCHF patients from Kosovo. Results suggest that mild CCHF cases are most probably underdiagnosed and consequently that the burden of disease is higher than reported. Our study provides key information for CCHF surveillance and raises awareness for possible imported cases in CCHF non-endemic countries.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Antibodies, Viral / immunology
  • Base Sequence
  • Cattle
  • Chickens / virology
  • DNA / genetics
  • Female
  • Goats / virology
  • Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / classification
  • Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / genetics
  • Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / immunology*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / epidemiology*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / veterinary*
  • Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / virology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Kosovo / epidemiology
  • Livestock / immunology
  • Livestock / virology*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Poultry Diseases / virology
  • Prevalence
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Seroepidemiologic Studies
  • Sheep / virology
  • Tick-Borne Diseases / transmission
  • Ticks / virology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • DNA

Grants and funding

This work is a part of the CCH Fever network (Collaborative Project) supported by the European Commission under the Health Cooperation Work Programme of the 7th Framework Programme (grant agreement no. 260427) and by European Virus Archive, FP7 CAPACITIES project, GA no. 228292. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.