Common calls for clearing areas to avoid contamination by Crimean-Congo fever ticks

Detection ticks carriers of the virus Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in the Ponferrada area and the recent death of a man in Salamanca due to the bite of this tick prompted the State Attorney to send a communication requesting the removal of vegetation from areas in order to minimize the spread and thereby avoid the transmission of infectious diseases.

“Ticks live on the ground, usually hiding among grass, bushes or dry shrubs, so one of the reasons affecting their spreading He neglect and uncontrolled growth of vegetation and weeds in areas of the urban and suburban centers of our cities and towns that are usually undeveloped or in an abandoned state,” the institute, headed by Tomas Quintana, cited to justify its decision.

In his ex officio letter, Common recalls that experts warned aboutincreased presence of this mite species and this affects the fact that complications are expected in the summer season. “Infectious disease specialists warn of an exponential increase in the spread of ticks in recent years and predict difficult summer“They emphasize to focus on the period from May to October as the most affected.

“In the absence of an effective vaccine,” the ombudsman believes that “one way to reduce the infection of people with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever” is to “limit its spread,” so he asks local institutions clean up the area of their property and remind owners of private lands of the obligation to maintain them in “safe, healthy and public ornamental conditions.”

Thus, the institution considered it appropriate to “solve the problem problematic from an urban point of view” to complement protocols developed from a public health perspective, which include recommendations to “strengthen bite prevention, information, and active surveillance diseases in humans” in order to identify possible cases as quickly as possible.

Thus, the Attorney General reiterates the importance of influencing “the necessary awareness of risk factors which may lead to insufficient conservation of farms and areas of the urban and peri-urban environment of the cities and towns of Castile and León.

As Common reminds us in his resolution, “Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is viral disease that worries the World Health Organization due to the high mortality rate, lack of effective vaccines and the high transmissibility and mutation of the virus that causes it. It is one of the most common tick-borne viruses worldwide.

The first human case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever associated with a tick bite, diagnosed in Castile and Leon, occurred in September 2016 in the province Avila. Later in 2022, data recorded in León caused “concern” as three cases were identified in one year, one of them Seprona’s Agentfinally died.