Victim M.D. died after he was transferred to Selçuk University Hospital from the Beyşehir district of Konya. Doctors said his symptoms and blood samples indicated that he may have had CCHF, a viral disease carried by certain tick species, but they are awaiting confirmation from a laboratory in Ankara. The doctors also noted that they hadn’t found any ticks on the patient’s body.Meanwhile, a 17-year-old girl with CCHF symptoms was transferred yesterday to a larger hospital in Sivas from Tokat Cevdet Aykan State Hospital because of her deteriorating condition. E.Ç., who resides in a village in Tokat, pulled off a tick from her leg, thinking she had a simple bite. She was hospitalized a week later.
During E.Ç.’s transfer, the ambulance driver noticed that her nose was bleeding and the people around her were given masks as a precaution since the disease can also be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person.
Two physicians and an assistant paramedic at the Diyarbakır Dicle University School of Medicine Research Hospital were quarantined on Sunday for suspected contraction of CCHF. The doctors were most likely infected by the patient’s blood when it came into contact with their eyes as they tried to stop the patient’s nosebleed.
Since first observed in Turkey 2002, 92 people have died of CCHF in the country, including 22 so far this year. The fever is much more prevalent in central Anatolian and eastern Anatolian provinces, especially Tokat, Çorum, Sivas, Amasya, Yozgat, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, Erzurum and Erzincan. Last year, 717 people were diagnosed with the disease, claiming 33 lives.
