Turkey gripped by panic over ticks carrying potentially deadly virus
With rising temperatures, a variety of tick that carries Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is multiplying in Türkiye, and its bites have already caused 16 deaths in recent months.
Due to global warming and the arrival of invasive species, Turkey is facing an explosion in the number of tick bites this summer, reports BBC Türkçe . Among the 30 species of ticks found in the country, one of them, called Hyalomma marginatum, multiplies particularly quickly. “It can lay up to 10,000 eggs, feeds on the blood of any animal it can find, but spends most of its time hidden on the ground,” which makes its eradication difficult, explains veterinary specialist parasitology Kürsat Altay, interviewed by the media.
This species, particularly present in the southern Black Sea region and central Anatolia, can be infected with the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, which it transmits to its human hosts if bitten. In recent months, 16 people across the country have died after being bitten by a tick carrying the virus. The latest victim was a 77-year-old woman who died on July 3 after being bitten in a village in the Bolu region, southwest of the Black Sea and 250 kilometers from Istanbul, reports the daily Milliyet .
Fear of ticks has reached the metropolis of 18 million inhabitants, where they are increasingly visible.
Courrier International
