Tick-borne fever kills 11 people in Turkey this year

ANKARA (Reuters) - A tick-borne fever has killed 11 people in Turkey this year, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

The severe disease, known as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, mainly strikes farm and slaughterhouse workers in the countryside in central Anatolia and Black Sea regions.

There have been 191 confirmed cases this year, the ministry said in a statement.

Local media said ticks carrying the virus are multiplying faster than usual due to global warming and high temperatures.

The disease normally occurs through bites from infected ticks or from direct contact with infected blood and tissue from livestock. Human to human transmission, through exposure to contaminated blood, is more rare.

The latest victim, taking the number dead to 11, was a 36-year old from the central Anatolian province Sivas.

The disease killed at least 20 people in Turkey last year.

There is no vaccine against the disease, which causes dizziness, high fever, muscle pain and vomiting. A body rash and bleeding from the bowels and gums, often accompanied by hepatitis and pulmonary failure, follow in severe cases.

The mortality rate can reach 30 percent from the disease, which was first identified in Crimea in 1944 and later appeared in Congo.