Man Dies of Deadly Ebola-like Virus, Experts Warn of Potential Spread

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A 74-year-old man in Spain has died from Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an Ebola-like disease, after being bitten by a tick.

According to CNN, the man succumbed to organ failure on Saturday in an isolation unit at La Paz-Carlos III Hospital in Madrid.

Often described as endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Asia, CCHF has a fatality rate of up to 40 percent and has no available vaccine yet.

Sources reported that after being bitten by a tick in Buenasbodas, Toledo province, central Spain, several days earlier, the man visited a hospital in Móstoles on July 19. After diagnosis, health practitioners at the hospital confirmed that he had a CCHF infection and was transferred to the isolation unit at La Paz-Carlos III Hospital on July 21. Although he was initially in stable condition, he died a week later.

Here’s What We Know About CCHF, The Ebola-like Disease

CCHF, known for causing severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks similar to Ebola, presents initial symptoms such as sudden fever, chills, vomiting, and diarrhea, followed by mood swings and confusion. The disease is also associated with bleeding, including nosebleeds, broken capillaries in the eyes, a rash from bleeding into the skin, and internal bleeding signs such as blood in urine or stools.

According to the World Health Organization, CCHF is “primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals, but human-to-human transmission can occur from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected persons.”

Although Spain has implemented a national plan to combat tick-borne diseases, including CCHF, Consuelo Giménez Pardo, a lecturer in medical parasitology at the University of Alcalá in Madrid, warned that “there will undoubtedly be more cases” of CCHF in Spain.

Another health expert, Professor Emma Thomson of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told CNN that she expects to “see more cases in the coming years,” adding that “there is also a risk of spread to other European countries, including the UK.”

Prevention and treatment of CCHF are challenging. WHO said that with no vaccine, CCHF has been treated with the antiviral drug ribavirin with apparent benefit.

“In the absence of a vaccine, the only way to reduce infection in people is by raising awareness of the risk factors and educating people about the measures they can take to reduce exposure to the virus,” WHO wrote on their website.

In late 2013, Africa witnessed a major Ebola epidemic that killed over 11,000 people before the outbreak was contained in June 2016.