CCHF prevention: Iraq’s Diyala launches wide campaign

Shafaq News/ On Saturday, Iraq’s Diyala Province launched its largest campaign to prevent the spread of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), focusing on rural areas and livestock.

Mohammed Ghadban, Director of the Diyala Veterinary Hospital, announced the operation would begin Sunday, targeting high-risk areas with widescale screening and tick control. The campaign, he explained, will involve pesticide spraying and livestock dipping to eliminate ticks, the primary carriers of the virus.

“No confirmed cases have been recorded so far, but diagnosis only occurs after human infection,” Ghadban told Shafaq News, stressing the importance of early action.

He also noted that the veterinary hospital had stockpiled anti-parasitic treatments before Eid al-Fitr holiday, enabling the full deployment of field teams across the province.

The effort follows fatal CCHF cases in Diyala last year and comes amid recent suspected infections in Nineveh and Dhi Qar.