Investigation of Epidemiological Factors and Clinical Pathology in Suspected and Affected Patients with Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Ahvaz.

Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral disease that is common between humans and animals. Objectives: This research aims to investigate the epidemiological and clinical pathological factors in suspected Crimean-Congo fever patients referred to hospitals for CCHF. Methods: Ninety-six patients were included based on the standard case definitions by the World Health Organization. In this cross-sectional study, the cases of suspected and confirmed CCHF were examined by serology and using a checklist of epidemiological information, including sex, age, season of infection, occupation, history of contact with animals, mode of infection, and clinical symptoms. Finally, the data were analyzed with SPSS software version 22, and P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Among the 96 patients admitted to the CCHF ward, 42 were confirmed by ELISA (36.5% IgM, 14.5% IgG) according to the WHO case definition. The age of the patients (male and female) ranged from 16 to 76 years, with the most common group being women aged 39.5 to 45 years. Most participants were housewives (37.5%), followed by various other occupations. Seasonally, most infections occurred in summer (56.25%) and spring (37.5%). Common symptoms included sudden onset (77%), fever (93.75%), muscle pain (89.5%), and bleeding (56.25%), with epistaxis being the most common. Regarding animal contact, 68.75% had a history, mainly with live animals, meat, and slaughter activities. All patients initially had mild leukopenia, lymphopenia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia; mean hemoglobin levels were 10.11 ± 2.6 g/dL. We observed that patients had slightly increased ALT (128 ± 67.2 U/L), AST (165 ± 116 U/L), and ALP (298 ± 57.5 U/L) levels in the laboratory results. However, average increases in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) levels (76.5 ± 8.6 mm/hr) were observed. Additionally, kidney evaluation of patients showed normal Cr (0.8 ± 0.1 mg/dL) and BUN (15.7 ± 1.2 mg/dL) levels. Conclusions: Based on the information obtained, it is recommended to diagnose the disease in a timely manner and train atrisk groups to prevent the occurrence of epidemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]