Ixodid tick species distribution in Kosovo, 2012.
Also shown are the municipality borders. In red are the CCHF-hyper-endemic municipalities according to Jameson et al. (2012). The numbers in the red circles indicate virus-positive tick samples.

Ixodid tick species distribution in Kosovo, 2012. Also shown are the municipality borders. In red are the CCHF-hyper-endemic municipalities according to Jameson et al. (2012). The numbers in the red circles indicate virus-positive tick samples.

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Despite being a small country, Kosovo represents one of the few foci of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in Europe. The distribution of Kosovar tick vectors and the evolution of CCHF virus in ticks are both as yet unknown. A better description of the extent and the genetic diversity of CCHFV in ticks from endemic settings is essential, in ord...

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... AIGV was originally isolated from Rhipicephalus bursa ticks collected from goats in Greece [112]. The virus has been detected in ticks in several Balkan countries and Turkey, with a few mild cases in humans [113][114][115][116][117][118]. It has been suggested that AIGV is less pathogenic than CCHFV, but further studies are needed to show the level of its pathogenicity [119][120][121][122]. ...
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Viruses transmitted by arthropods (arboviruses) pose a global public health threat. Sporadic cases or outbreaks caused by West Nile virus, Crimean–Congo haemorrhagic fever virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, and phleboviruses are often reported in Europe. Recently, they expanded their distribution in geographic areas where they had never been observed before, while tropical viruses, like Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika, started to cause autochthonous cases and outbreaks following the return of viraemic travellers from endemic countries. The primary or secondary vectors of these viruses are established in Europe, and the incidence of arboviral diseases is expected to increase due to several anthropogenic and/or environmental factors (mainly climate change, which affects the survival and amplification of the arthropod vectors). This is an update on the emerging arboviruses in Europe, associated challenges, and future perspectives.
... 6,12 Historically, CCHFV isolates were classified into six genotypes, or clades: I-III (endemic in Africa), IV (Asia), V (Europe I), and VI (Europe II). [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] However, clade VI genotypes were recently reclassified into a separate and distinct species, Aigai virus, which infrequently causes severe disease. 20 CCHFV has been recognized for its pandemic potential and, as of 2017, the World Health Organization has designated it a priority pathogen. ...
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... While Hyalomma species are the primary virus reservoirs and vectors for CCHFV, there is experimental evidence suggesting the potential involvement of ticks from the Rhipicephalus genus in its transmission; however, concrete evidence supporting their significant role in viral maintenance and natural transmission remains inconclusive [19]. Recent studies have detected CCHFV antigen within a Rhipicephalus species, along with viral RNA in different Rhipicephalus species across Albania, Kosovo, Greece, Turkey, and Iran [12][13][14][15][16][44][45][46]. Notably, this highlights the exclusive presence of CCHFV strains belonging to Europe 2 (clade VI) within R. bursa species, indicating their potential role as vectors of the virus [13]. ...
... Firstly, the sample size of 70 sequences (24 for S segment, 23 for M segment, and 23 for L segment) of CCHFV isolates from different representatives of the Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus genera may not be sufficient to provide robust conclusions. Additionally, there are limitations in the amount of full CCHFV genome sequences isolated from Rhipicephalus and the lack of CCHFV sequences from Dermacentor species, despite experimental evidence suggesting their potential involvement in virus transmission and the frequent detection of viral RNA in these species [11][12][13][14][15][16]18,19,[44][45][46]. Thus, generating full genome sequences of CCHFV strains isolated from Dermacentor ticks could provide valuable insights into the virus's adaptation to additional tick species. ...
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Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever orthonairovirus (CCHFV) is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus with a segmented genome and the causative agent of a severe Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) disease. The virus is transmitted mainly by tick species in Hyalomma genus but other ticks such as representatives of genera Dermacentor and Rhipicephalus may also be involved in virus life cycle. To improve our understanding of CCHFV adaptation to its tick species, we compared nucleotide composition and codon usage patterns among the all CCHFV strains i) which sequences and other metadata as locality of collection and date of isolation are available in GenBank and ii) which were isolated from in-field collected tick species. These criteria fulfilled 70 sequences (24 coding for S, 23 for M, and 23 for L segment) of virus isolates originating from different representatives of Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus genera. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that Hyalomma- and Rhipicephalus-originating CCHFV isolates belong to phylogenetically distinct CCHFV clades. Analyses of nucleotide composition among the Hyalomma- and Rhipicephalus-originating CCHFV isolates also showed significant differences, mainly in nucleotides located at the 3rd codon positions indicating changes in codon usage among these lineages. Analyses of codon adaptation index (CAI), effective number of codons (ENC), and other codon usage statistics revealed significant differences between Hyalomma- and Rhipicephalus-isolated CCHFV strains. Despite both sets of strains displayed a higher adaptation to use codons that are preferred by Hyalomma ticks than Rhipicephalus ticks, there were distinct codon usage preferences observed between the two tick species. These findings suggest that over the course of its long co-evolution with tick vectors, CCHFV has optimized its codon usage to efficiently utilize translational resources of Hyalomma species.
... The increasing incidence of CCHFV highlights the need for vigilant surveillance and the implementation of response measures in endemic areas (Pshenichnaya et al., 2023). Ticks of the genus Hyalomma are the main vectors and reservoirs of CCHFV (Estrada-Peña et al., 2012;Sherifi et al., 2014). Hereby, Hyalomma marginatum is the major vector of CCHFV in Mediterranean Basin and Asia according to Al-Abri et al. (2017), Gargili et al. (2017), and Papa et al. (2017) while other tick genera such as Rhipicephalus, Amblyomma, and Dermacentor may also maintain the virus in endemic areas (Gargili et al., 2017). ...
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... AIGV has been detected in several tick species, mainly in Rhipicephalus bursa ticks, collected in several regions of the Balkans and Turkey [4][5][6][7][8] . However, only few human cases have been associated with the virus 9,10 . ...
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... Dermacentor marginatus, which is autochthonous in the South of France (41,46) and which adults stages can also engorge on CCHFV amplifier hosts would also be a suitable vector. Although its ability for transovarial transmission from infected females to subsequent generations was demonstrated once in the 1970s (47), no further assays have been conducted since this date and (48)(49)(50)(51). However, D. marginatus ticks feeding on wild boars were found to be infected in CCHF endemic areas in Spain, without determining the infectious status of animals (34). ...
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Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral zoonotic disease resulting in hemorrhagic syndrome in humans. Its causative agent is naturally transmitted by ticks to non-human vertebrate hosts within an enzootic sylvatic cycle. Ticks are considered biological vectors, as well as reservoirs for CCHF virus (CCHFV), as they are able to maintain the virus for several months or even years and to transmit CCHFV to other ticks. Although animals are not symptomatic, some of them can sufficiently replicate the virus, becoming a source of infection for ticks as well as humans through direct contact with contaminated body fluids. The recent emergence of CCHF in Spain indicates that tick–human interaction rates promoting virus transmission are changing and lead to the emergence of CCHF. In other European countries such as France, the presence of one of its main tick vectors and the detection of antibodies targeting CCHFV in animals, at least in Corsica and in the absence of human cases, suggest that CCHFV could be spreading silently. In this review, we study the CCHFV epidemiological cycle as hypothesized in the French local context and select the most likely parameters that may influence virus transmission among tick vectors and non-human vertebrate hosts. For this, a total of 1,035 articles dating from 1957 to 2021 were selected for data extraction. This study made it possible to identify the tick species that seem to be the best candidate vectors of CCHFV in France, but also to highlight the importance of the abundance and composition of local host communities on vectors' infection prevalence. Regarding the presumed transmission cycle involving Hyalomma marginatum, as it might exist in France, at least in Corsica, it is assumed that tick vectors are still weakly infected and the probability of disease emergence in humans remains low. The likelihood of factors that may modify this equilibrium is discussed.
... Russian CCHFV strains belong to three subgroups: Stavropol-Rostov-Astrakhan (Va), Volgograd-Rostov-Stavropol (Vb), Astrakhan-2 (Vc), and Crimea (Vd) [16,18,19]. Strains from the Balkans and Turkey form distinct subgroups [20][21][22]. ...
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In this report, we present new data on the diversity and geographical distribution of genetic variants in Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) in Russia. Partial S, M, and L segment sequences of the CCHFV genome were obtained from 500 serum samples from CCHF patients and 103 pools of ticks collected in the south of the European region of Russia in 2007–2017. The investigated viral strains belonged to the lineages Europe 1 (596 samples), Africa 3 (1 sample) and a new genetic lineage, Europe 3 (6 samples). The Russian CCHFV strains of the Europe 1 lineage formed four subgroups (Va-Vd) correlated with the geographical site of virus isolation. Segment reassortment events between strains of different subgroups within lineage Europe 1 were revealed. The complete S, M and L genome segments of 18 CCHFV strains belonging to different subgroups of the Europe 1 lineage and the complete S segments of 3 strains of the Europe 3 lineage and 1 strain of the Africa 3 lineage were sequenced. The analysis of the geographical distribution of CCHFV genetic variants in southern Russia revealed local viral populations with partially overlapping boundaries.
... As of today, AP-92-like viruses have been found in Rhipicephalus spp. ticks in three Balkan countries other than Greece, namely Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo [54][55][56][57]; in H. marginatum, H. scupense Schulze, 1919, and R. bursa ticks collected from cattle in Edirne and Kırklareli provinces, West Marmara Region (Batı Marmara Bölgesi) [58,59]; in H. marginatum, R. bursa and R. sanguineus sensu lato ticks collected in Bayburt and Van Provinces in Northeast Anatolia Region (Kuzeydoğu Bölgesi) and in Mersin Province, Mediterranean Region (Akdeniz Bölgesi), Turkey [58,60]; and in Hyalomma aegyptium Linnaeus, 1758 ticks collected from Greek tortoises (Testudo graeca Linnaeus, 1758) near Aflou ‫,)أفلو(‬ Laghouat Province ‫األغواط(‬ ‫,)والية‬ Algeria [61]. ...
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Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is the medically most important member of the rapidly expanding bunyaviral family Nairoviridae. Traditionally, CCHFV isolates have been assigned to six distinct genotypes. Here, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Nairoviridae Study Group outlines the reasons for the recent decision to re-classify genogroup VI (aka Europe-2 or AP-92- like) as a distinct virus, Aigai virus (AIGV). © 2020 Archives of Health Science and Research. All rights reserved.
... Originally identified in R. bursa ticks from Greece (Papadopoulos and Koptopoulos 1980), this CCHFV lineage has also been reported from other Balkan countries (Albania, Bulgaria and Kosovo), Algeria, and Iran (Papa et al. 2014, Sherifi et al. 2014, Kautman et al. 2016, Panayotova et al. 2016. In Turkey, it has been identified in several Rhipicephalus and Hyalomma spp. ...
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Introduction: We screened host-collected ticks for tick-borne viruses, including those recently documented as human pathogens. Methods: During 2020-2021, ticks removed form cattle, sheep, dogs, and cats in 11 provinces in 5 geographically distinct regions of Anatolia were identified, pooled, and screened using pan-nairovirus, pan-flavivirus and individual assays for Jingmen tick virus (JMTV), and Tacheng tick virus 1 and 2 (TcTV-1 and TcTV-2). Results: A total of 901 tick specimens, comprising 6 species were included. Rhipicephalus sanguineus complex was the most abundant species (44.1%), followed by Rhipicephalus bursa (38.3%), Haemaphysalis parva (7.2%), and others. The specimens were screened in 158 pools with 12 pools (7.6%) being positive. Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) lineage Europe 2 (genotype VI) sequences were detected in R. bursa in five (3.2%) of the pools, with similar prevalences in central and Mediterranean Anatolian provinces. JMTV was identified in four R. bursa and one Rhipicephalus turanicus pools, collected from Mediterranean and southeastern Anatolia, with a CCHFV and JMTV coinfected R. bursa pool. The JMTV segment 1 sequences formed a separate cluster with those from Turkey and the Balkan peninsula in the maximum likelihood analysis. TcTV-2 was detected in two Dermacentor marginatus specimens (1.3%) collected in central Anatolia, with nucleocapsid sequences forming a phylogenetically segregated group among viruses from humans and ticks from China and Kazakhstan. Discussion: CCHFV Europe 2 was initially documented in ticks from central Anatolian locations, where related orthonairoviruses had been previously recorded. Ongoing activity and a wider distribution of JMTV and TcTV-2 were observed. These viruses should be screened as potential etiological agents in human infections associated with tick bites.