What is Bleeding Eye Fever? 10 facts about Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

East Africa is teetering on the brink of a health crisis after a nine year old girl lost her life to a mysterious “Bleeding Eye Fever.” As per media reports, the disease owes its unique nomenclature to one of its symptoms that makes the sufferers bleed out of orifices such as the eyes. Health experts have confirmed that the disease is the dreaded Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), a viral disease spread by ticks and endemic in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. If left unchecked, health experts opine that the bleeding eye fever may prove to be more devastating than last year’s Black Death outbreak, which claimed thousands of lives in the continent. Given that CCHF’s fatality rate is a whopping 40 percent, the paranoia and fear related to the disease is entirely warranted.
Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever facts
1. It is caused by a virus
CCHF is one of the deadliest hemorrhagic fevers caused by the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Virus or CCHV.
2. It causes bleeding
CCHF is accompanied by bleeding in the eyes, in the throat (petichae)and in the stomach. The sclera of the eyes turn red and red spots start developing on the skin.
3. It is spread through ticks
CCHF is spread through infected Hyalomma genus ticks who are infected by the CCHV or Nairovirus.
4. Common symptoms
Common symptoms include headache, high fever, nausea, abdominal pain, muscle pain and non bloody diarrhoea. This accompanied by hypotension, relative dradycardia, conjuctivitis, skin flushing and rash.
5. More dangerous to humans than animals
Although the disease is asymptomatic in animals, it can be deadly and fatal in human beings.
6. Most patients progress to the hemorrhagic phase
The non-bleeding phase lasts for 4-5 days. After which, most patients move to the hemorrhagic phase. In this stage, red skin spots, bleeding through the eyes and nose, blood in vomit and mucous and tarry stools are seen.
7. Is highly fatal
What makes the disease particularly frightening is that it has a high fatality rate. Death occurs in 40 to 60 percent of the cases. In severe cases, multiorgan failure, circulatory shock are known to the causes of death.
8 It takes 10-20 days for convalescence
Sufferers who have tided over the most dangerous phase of the disease may start get better 10-20 days after the start of the illness. Patients report having weak pulse, fast heart beats, and loss of hearing, memory and hair.
9. Treatment
Treatment for CCHF is mostly supportive. Ribavirin is the primary treatment drug available. Immunoglobulin therapy is also being used for its treatment since 2011.
10. No vaccine available
As of now, according to WHO, no vaccine is available for either animals or humans.

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