2024-04-22 08:40:00
Her name? There Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic feveror FHCC.
If this disease doesn’t really tell you anything, it’s because we don’t talk regarding it much and only a few months in France.
However, the virus “can already circulate in Corsica, Aude, Gard, Hérault, Ardèche, Var and Alpes-Maritimes”indicates epidemiologist Laurence Vial at Point this Friday the 19 April.
How do you catch the virus?
FHCC is transferred “generally” over there bitten by a tick infected “of the genus Hyalomma”explained Public Health in France in October, following the discovery of virus in cattle reared in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
“Contagion to humans is also possible through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of an infected animal or human (during the short period when the virus circulates in the blood).”
Nowadays, no indigenous affairs has not been detected in humans in France.
Where was it discovered?
The Hyalomma tick is mainly introduced by migratory birds from Africa “for decades in Corsica“ and was discovered “from 2015” on Mediterranean coast.
Experts say it might extend further north “under the influence of Climate changes“.
There is no active monitoring of ticks, regardless of species, in France.
What are the symptoms?
In humans, CCHF disease has been characterized “generally” by a flu syndrome with digestive problemsaccording to Public Health France.
Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, digestive problems, dizziness, neck stiffness and pain, back pain, headache, eye sensitivity and discomfort caused by light.
“In severe cases, these symptoms may be followed by bleedingshock and multiorgan failure.”
Is it bad?
CCHF in humans remains “usually asymptomatic ou paucisymptomatique”, that is, with few symptoms.
The disease can nevertheless worsen, transform into hemorrhagic fever, with risk of death between 5 to 30%.
A dozen indigenous cases of this fever have been reported in Spain since 2016, some of which resulted in death.
What are the treatments?
It does not exist “neither treatment nor vaccine“ for humans or animals, recalls epidemiologist Laurence Vial Point.
If you are bitten by a tick, you should monitor your general condition and see a doctor if symptoms appear in the month following exposure to the virus.
How to protect yourself?
“The most important way to reduce the risk of infection in humans is to protect yourself from tick bites“, according to Public Health France, which lists the recommendations:
– during nature walkswear closed shoes, tuck your pants inside your socks and choose light-colored coveralls to better detect ticks on the surface of the fabric;
– avoid walking among grass, bushes and low branches and favor marked paths;
– use any skin repellents;
– inspect yourself following returning from a walk in the forest, in the maquis and scrub or in the garden, especially at the level of the skin folds, not forgetting the scalp;
– by sting, remove ticks immediately fix using a tick remover, fine tweezers or, failing that, nails, and disinfect the area.
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