Animal Ticks

Since ticks gain nutrients from feeding from a blood supply, they are an extremely viable means for spreading disease. Throughout their maturing process, they feed on animals who, in turn, can become viremic. The virus can, potentially, infect any other animal who comes in contact with its blood—including other ticks. As ticks mature, they progressively look for larger animals to feed from. This is especially true for the Hyalomma species, who have ‘hunting-like’ qualities. Studies have shown that they search for concentrations of large animals to feed off of when they become adults. Therefore, agricultural areas with livestock are ideal for this genus. In turn, humans work directly in these farming areas regularly, and are not only targets themselves, but can be infected from butchering the animals.
Unfortunately, there were many barriers that prevented the development of effective vaccines against CCHF. Finding an ideal animal model was, and continues to be, the toughest challenge, as CCHF does not elicit an immune response in many animals. Thankfully, research scientists were able to develop a vaccine in the late 70s for Russian and Bulgarian strains of the

Traditionally, this habitat is the regions described above, Southwestern Asia, the Middle East, parts of Southern Europe, and most of Eastern Africa. Through the course of global warming and adaptation, there is strong concern that CCHF could spread to other areas with cooler climates. Hyalomma larvae were recently discovered on migratory birds in the United Kingdom, and have been recovered from livestock as far north as Norway. However, Fears of pandemic have generally been discredited due to the sheer statically likelihood of the Hyalommas being able to migrate via birds to foreign soil, locate the opposite sex, find a sufficient food source, and sustain a