Research Institute for Plague Control, Stavropol, Russia
48,082 ticks, collected in the Stavropol territory, the Kabardin-Balkar and Karachai-Circassian Republics, as well as the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, were studied with a view to find out if they were contaminated with Crimean hemorrhagic fever (CHF) virus. In 166 pools of six species of Ixodes ticks CHF virus antigen was detected. Two strains of CHF virus were isolated from the hemolymph of satiated ticks Hyalomma margintum. The transovarial and transphasic transmission of CHF virus in this tick species was confirmed. The causative agent of CHF was found to be spread throughout 17 administrative regions of the Stavropol Territory.
Zh. Mikrobiol. (Moscow), 2005, No. 4, Supplement, P. 23—27