Emergence of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Greece

Abstract

In the summer of 2008, the first case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) was observed in Greece. The laboratory diagnosis was established using nested RT-PCR and quantitative real-time RT-PCR. A high viral load and increased levels of cytokines were detected on the third day of illness and the patient died 7 days after the onset of symptoms. Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed that the Greek CCHF virus strain had high sequence identity with other Balkan CCHF virus strains. © 2009 The Authors. Journal Compilation © 2009 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.