Tick-Borne Fever Unlikely to Become Epidemic

Since early June, six people in Tajikistan have been infected with the potentially fatal viral disease, haemorrhagic fever, but NBCentralAsia experts say there is little risk of an epidemic even though the country’s disease prevention measures are inadequate due to a lack of funds.



On June 20, Aziya Plus news agency reported that Tajikistan could be threatened by an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever after six people were found to have contracted the disease.



Haemorrhagic fever is a tick-borne viral disease carried by domestic and wild animals. Humans bitten by an infected tick suffer a high fever and the outcome can be fatal.



The state veterinary control service says this is an “exotic” disease for Tajikistan. Only five to 12 cases a year have been recorded over the past decade and an outbreak is being ruled out.



Navruz Jafarov, a leading expert at the sanitary and epidemiological department of the health ministry, agrees that a rapid spread of the disease is unlikely, adding that only the southern regions of the country are prone to the disease and people only contract it in summer.



The general public does, however, need to be made aware of the dangers of tick bites, he said.



Samariddin Aliev, director of the national centre for epidemiological control, says there has never been a serious outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in Tajikistan and it is unlikely there ever will be.



Aliev adds that the disease can be prevented if the veterinary services identify high risk areas and treat the livestock on which the ticks live.



An NBCentralAsia source in the veterinary control service says that the current cases were caused by underfunding of epidemic prevention which means that vets did not have the chemicals needed to control the ticks.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)