Turkish scientists have developed the world's first vaccine against the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, or CCHF, the country's health minister said Monday.
Recep Akdag, speaking in the eastern Erzurum province, said the ministry had supported the scientists who he said "worked hard" for around eight years to develop the vaccine.
The virus causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CCHF outbreaks have a fatality rate of up to 40 percent.
The virus is primarily transmitted to people from ticks and livestock animals. Human-to-human transmission can occur resulting from close contact with the blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected persons.
CCHF is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asia, in countries south of the 50th parallel north, the WHO says.
Currently, there is no vaccine available for either people or animals.
"The vaccine has been developed," Akdag said. "Turkey has developed an original vaccine, not a licensed vaccine of a company."
It will be the world's first vaccine against CCHF, he added, after some remaining research on human subjects.