First drug trial for Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever is launched

The world’s first trial testing drugs to target Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever have launched in Turkey, a hotspot with some 1,000 cases a year. 

The early phase study is a “major moment” for efforts to tackle Congo fever – a tick-borne virus endemic in much of Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, which has a mortality rate as high as 40 per cent.

Although Congo fever already causes seasonal outbreaks yearly in countries including Turkey, Iraq and Pakistan, there are no specific drugs or vaccines to combat the virus, which – like Ebola – can cause patients to bleed uncontrollably from their mouth and nose, haemorrhage internally, and go into multiorgan failure and shock. 

While surveillance data is patchy, and experts say many mild cases are likely undiagnosed annually, there are concerns that the threat posed by the disease is growing. 

But so far this year, more than 900 cases have been recorded according to the health data firm Airfinity. Afghanistan has recorded 476 – four times more than 2022 – while Iraq has seen 377. The country has seen a significant jump in cases in the last few years, with more infections in 2021 alone than the previous 40 years.