2023-06-01 15:59:00
The Hyalomma tick has been present in Corsica for several decades, and on the Mediterranean coast since 2015. However, it is the vector of many pathogens, including the Crimean-Congo fever virus (CCHF).
This Thursday, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) issued a statement warning : if “no human case of contamination by the Crimean-Congo fever virus has yet been observed, an emergence in France is possible”.
Up to 30% mortality
A dozen indigenous human cases of this fever have already been reported in Spain since 2013, some of which have resulted in the death of the patient.
If this fever is generally limited to an influenza-like syndrome with digestive disorders, “in certain cases, it can worsen and result in a hemorrhagic syndrome, the fatality rate of which reaches 30% in certain countries”.
In France, specific antibodies to the virus have been found in domestic and wild animals, notes the health agency.
Global warming in question
The risk of Crimean-Congo fever appearing in France is “all the more likely since the geographical extension of the tick implantation zone should be favored by climate change”, according to Elsa Quillery, coordinator of the scientific expertise cited by ANSES.
Dry climates and hot periods are popular with Hyalomma ticks, which have hitherto been found in France mainly in the scrubland or Mediterranean maquis, unlike other ticks, which are more forest-dwelling.
ANSES therefore calls for national surveillance of these ticks, targeting the areas most at risk and developing tools for early detection of transmitted pathogens.
“Contrary to what exists for mosquitoes, no national monitoring system is organized for ticks, while they transmit serious diseases such as CCHF but also Lyme disease or tick-borne encephalitis”, noted Elsa Quillery.
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted to humans by animals, have multiplied in recent years, raising fears of new pandemics.
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