Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Mauritania

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 10; no. 12; pp. 2143 - 2149
• Main Authors: Nabeth, Pierre, Cheikh, Dah Ould, Lo, Baidy, Faye, Ousmane, Vall, Idoumou Ould Mohamed, Niang, Mbayame, Wague, Bocar, Diop, Djibril, Diallo, Mawlouth, Diallo, Boubacar, Diop, Ousmane Madiagne, Simon, François
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01-12-2004; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Adult; Animals; Base Sequence; Cattle - virology; Cluster Analysis; Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever; Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus; Development and progression; Disease Outbreaks; Disease Reservoirs - veterinary; Disease Vectors; DNA, Viral; Female; Goats - virology; Hemorrhagic fever; Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean - epidemiology; Hospital; Humans; Male; Mauritania; Mauritania - epidemiology; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Nosocomial; Outbreak; Pregnancy; Sheep - virology; Ticks - virology; Urban; Mauritania
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid1012.040535

From February to August 2003, 38 persons were infected with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus in Mauritania; 35 of these persons were residents of Nouakchott. The first patient was a young woman who became ill shortly after butchering a goat. She transmitted the infection to 15 persons in the hospital where she was admitted and four members of her family. In Nouakchott, two disease clusters and 11 isolated cases were identified. The case-fatality ratio was 28.6%. Of the patients not infected by the first case-patient, almost half were butchers, which suggests that the primary mode of animal-to-human transmission was direct contact with blood of infected animals. The hospital outbreak alerted health authorities to sporadic cases that occurred in the following weeks, which would have probably gone otherwise unnoticed. Studies must be conducted to determine the potential risk for continued sporadic outbreaks of CCHF in humans and to propose prevention measures.