Crimean-Congo Fever CCHF...

[Bruce Kennedy]

Any reports of a tourist , 62 years old in the countryside Castilla-Leon area that recently suffered a tick bite, contracting CCHF and passing 3 Sept?

 

[C clearly]

It looks like you have received such a report! Where did you hear this?

 

[Bruce Kennedy]

Through an InternationalSOS phone app specifically for Spain

 

[jirit]

More on the same story ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...in-of-potentially-fatal-crimean-congo-haemor/

 

[whariwharangi]

The good news is the Avila Province is a long way from any camino ... no need to panic.

I'd even go so far as to suggest this thread be shut down as potentially damaging rumor that could cause panic for no good reason.

 

[Bruce Kennedy]

The good news is the Avila Province is a long way from any camino ... no need to panic.

I'd even go so far as to suggest this thread be shut down as potentially damaging rumor.

Not really a rumor, someone has passed, though not in the Camino Frances....ticks are around everywhere, forewarned!

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

This tick incident was also covered in the thread https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/tick-borne-disease-update.43020/

 

[KinkyOne]

The good news is the Avila Province is a long way from any camino ... no need to panic.

Are you sure? What about Levante, Sureste and Teresiano?

 

[jirit]

This is a very rare event and until we know more I would suggest the likelyhood of getting the exact same desease (CCHf) is extremely low.

 

[Bruce Kennedy]

This is a very rare event and until we know more I would suggest the likelyhood of getting the exact same desease (CCHf) is extremely low.

Thanks for your work as a moderator, I would rather address real problem areas than ignore them. Lots of experiences to be had on the Camino, appreciate everyone's insight.

 

[ivar]

I saw a report on this on Spanish TV about this a few days. It seems that the tick that infected this person came over from Africa on a bird that was infected (I guess it bit the bird)... then (somehow) got from the bird over to this person.. and bit him. So very remote changes that this will happened to more people..

I would not worry about this...

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Variations of Lyme disease exist in Spain and Europe. It is a bacterial infection that can be cured with antibiotics when caught early. In the U.S. little black deer ticks get the blame for Lyme's disease, but bacteria can be transmitted by lots of types of ticks (and the specific bacteria varies by country and tick). Lyme's disease is rarely fatal, but can be quite debilitating if not treated.

"Only four other deaths from Lyme disease have ever been reported, CDC says -- two in Europe and two in the United States. “Pathologists and medical examiners should be aware that Lyme carditis can be a cause of sudden cardiac death,” the agency advises.Dec 12, 2013"

The death rate in Spain from Crimean-Congo Fever would appear to be less than that of Lyme's disease! There seems to be a pilgrim death each year from traffic, so spend time watching for cars, not watching for CCHF.

 

[SYates]

As it was the first non-imported case of CCHF in Spain death/survival statistics and comparison with Lyme really don't make sense mathematically. I agree, most likely it is a sad, but single event but equally it can't hurt taking usual 'tick prevention measures'. Buen camino, SY

 

[Castilian]

Any reports of a tourist , 62 years old in the countryside Castilla-Leon area that recently suffered a tick bite, contracting CCHF and passing 3 Sept?

Not really a tourist but a local that although didn't leave in town visited it frequently. On his last visit to his home town he decided to make a promenade in the countryside with the result you reported.
BTW, Castilla y León; not Castilla-Leon.

Once said all that, a little bit of perspective:

• Castile and Leon is bigger (in surface) than countries like Portugal or Hungary.
• The place where this man was infected is roughly 200 kms away (as the cow flies) from the Camino Francés.
• The closest caminos (to Santiago) to the place where this man was infected would be the Sureste and the Levante something like 30 kms away.
• So far, AFAIK, there are just 2 persons infected: the man who dead and a woman that attended him at the hospital.
• So far, AFAIK, there are just 3 persons that may be infected: another woman that works at a hospital, the wife of someone infected and a woman that might have been infected on a nearby town in Ávila province too (none of this cases is confirmed yet; they are studying them).

Some info about the CCHF provided by the WHO: www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs208/en

 

[VNwalking]

I gave my earlier thread (https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/tick-borne-disease-update.43020/) a 'boring' title so as not to create undue alarm, because (at least on the CF), there's no cause for that.

What about Levante, Sureste and Teresiano?

Well, there has been at least 1 CCHF infected tick around Avila. There may be more, who knows? It's not a '4-alarm fire' just yet, not at all, but it's good to know the (remote) possibility and take precautions. So if you're on one of these caminos and know you'll be bushwhacking--or find yourself in a situation where you have to walk in places where ticks might be a possibility--it simply behooves you to do a few simple things:

1. Tuck your pants into your socks.
   
2. If you have it use deet-based repellent, use t (also on your pants/socks).
3. Check yourself for ticks as soon as possible after walking in a situation where you might encounter them (walking off a well-formed path, in grass or low vegetation).

As with lyme disease, prevention is the key--and much easier than dealing with the consequences.

 

[KinkyOne]

I gave my earlier thread (https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/tick-borne-disease-update.43020/) a 'boring' title so as not to create undue alarm, because (at least on the CF), there's no cause for that.


Well, there has been at least 1 CCHF infected tick around Avila. There may be more, who knows? It's not a '4-alarm fire' just yet, not at all, but it's good to know the (remote) possibility and take precautions. So if you're on one of these caminos and know you'll be bushwhacking--or find yourself in a situation where you have to walk in places where ticks might be a possibility--it simply behooves you to do a few simple things:

1. Tuck your pants into your socks.
   
2. If you have it use deet-based repellent, use t (also on your pants/socks).
3. Check yourself for ticks as soon as possible after walking in a situation where you might encounter them (walking off a well-formed path, in grass or low vegetation).

As with lyme disease, prevention is the key--and much easier than dealing with the consequences.

Hola, Viranani,

I was just correcting @whariwharangi post about no Camino runs through Avila province
Otherwise your list of things to do in case of ticks is on spot.

Have a nice day!

 

[VNwalking]

I was just correcting @whariwharangi post about no Camino runs through Avila province

Next time you're down there, buen Camino sin ticks, @KinkyOne!

 

[SYates]

One more tick-thing to add:

I am not a favourite tick victim normally, but I was caught by one this spring via my backpack that I had put down in long grass to go to the t...

So add to @Viranani 's excellent list of prevention measures:

Don't put your backpack down in shrubs/long grasses!

Buen Camino, SY

 

[VNwalking]

I was caught by one this spring via my backpack that I had put down in long grass to go to the t...

So add to @Viranani 's excellent list of prevention measures:

Don't put your backpack down in shrubs/long grasses!

Thanks for bringing this up, SY...because come to think of it, this is when most of us would unthinkingly be wandering into tick territory--going off the path behind a bush someplace.

That applies to all of us CF or not. And I know if I were walking near Avilla right now, I'd be pretty vigilant about preventing tick bites before such a detour. Not out of fear but just because it's common sense.
(All the more because while Lyme is bacterial and easily treated, CCHF is viral and that's another story altogether...)

 

[SYates]

Lyme easily treated - sigh - I have a friend that suffers from chronic lyme - not pretty. Buen Camino, SY

 

[VNwalking]

Lyme easily treated - sigh - I have a friend that suffers from chronic lyme - not pretty. Buen Camino, SY

Sorry, @SYates, I should have been clearer--easily treated if you catch it early. I also have 3 friends with chronic lyme disease and yes--it's not pretty, not at all.

 

[Tincatinker]

View attachment 28874 Through an InternationalSOS phone app specifically for Spain

I'd ditch the app. Without an associated risk assessment the information is about as useful as 'airplane falls out of sky'. To cite a reasonable comparative the current "threat" level in the UK is so high that, if we didn't live here already, the FO would be advising against 'non-essential travel'.

Grumpy old luddite takes a deep breath and says: there is sound advice here about avoiding tic-bites, the value of taking sensible precaution against tic-bites and even about the more prevalent tic-borne threats to the well-being of pilgrims and hikers. Just don't check for tics while you are crossing the road....

 

[jsalt]

in long grass to go to the t...

Ha, I did that too, on the Rota Vicentina in February. I was wearing long pants, rain pants and gaitors. Stayed in a freezing cold, dismal place that night, so slept with all my clothes on; and only found the three engorged ticks on my leg in a bathtub the next evening. Moral of the story: don’t go off-track into the bush in an already isolated area for a pit-stop; stay on the track! Jill

 

[SYates]

... Just don't check for tics while you are crossing the road....

Now that would be a sight - not ;-) Buen Camino, SY

 

[VNwalking]

Just don't check for tics while you are crossing the road....

...Unless your life's ambition is to collect a (posthumous) Darwin Award.

But as these experiences show ...do check!

Edit: Even when it's freezing and you'd think ticks might not be around. That part of @jsalt's story is a surprise and a lesson:

in February.

February?! Who knew? Yes, it's Southern Portugal, but wow.