NewsDesk @bactiman63

The Ministry of Health has confirmed two new cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in two men – one of them deceased – residing in the Bierzo region (León), according to a new report prepared by the Coordination Center Alerts and Health Emergencies.

Image/CIA

The first case, a 49-year-old hunter, with a history of tick bite, began symptoms on July 12 and is in stable condition. The second case, 51 years old, was retrospectively diagnosed on July 20, after having died on June 19 of an unknown cause, according to a Europa Press report Monday.

It is not the first time that it has been detected in El Bierzo. On June 10, 2021, another case was confirmed in a woman resident in El Bierzo who had also been in some places in Ourense, around the Ribera Sacra, Galicia. However, Health affirms that the “risk is moderate” in this area.

“The risk of transmission of CCHF in the Bierzo region, as in the rest of the areas where the virus has been circulating in ticks, animals or human cases have been detected, is moderate, especially in the population with a higher exposure to tick bites – people in contact with animals or who perform outdoor activities in the field -“, the report states.

For the rest of Spain, the risk is considered “low”, although remember that it is conditioned to the activity of the vectors, whose activity is maximum in the summer season.

Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 12 cases with 4 deaths have been confirmed in Spain: 1 in 2013 in Ávila, 2 in 2016, one of them in Ávila and a secondary case to this in a health worker, 2 in 2018 in Badajoz and Salamanca, 3 in 2020 in Salamanca, 2 in 2021 in Salamanca and León (El Bierzo) and the two above this year from El Bierzo.