Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) is a severe tick-borne viral zoonosis, whose geographic range and incidence in humans have increased in the Mediterranean basin.

 

Mapping endemic regions for CCHF virus (CCHFV) and estimating the degree of risk are now priorities for European countries. Surveys on ticks and serological studies in humans and animals have evidenced viral circulation in several areas of central and southwestern Spain.

 

Recently, two serological studies reported two foci of high CCHFV seropositivity in ungulates from the Mediterranean ecoregion (eastern Spain). The factors that drive CCHFV dynamics in the Mediterranean likely differ from those in other ecoregions.

 

We are characterizing CCHFV and evaluating tick species distribution, including Hyalomma ticks through migratory birds, together with the Catalan Ornithological Institute (ICO).