The sight of the health workers, dressed in full protective kit, is one that has become common in the Iraqi countryside, as the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever spreads, jumping from animals to humans.
"The number of cases recorded is unprecedented," said Haidar Hantouche, a health official in Dhi Qar province.In previous years, cases could be counted "on the fingers of one hand", he added. The surge of cases this year has shocked officials, since numbers far exceed recorded cases in the 43 years since the virus was first documented in Iraq in 1979.
The WHO's representative in Iraq, Ahmed Zouiten, said there were several "hypotheses" for the country's outbreak. But "mortality seems to be declining", he added, as Iraq had mounted a spraying campaign while new hospital treatments had shown "good results".Since the virus is "primarily transmitted" to people via ticks on livestock, most cases are among farmers, slaughterhouse workers and veterinarians, the WHO says.
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