The spokesperson for the Iraqi Ministry of Health, Saif Al-Badr, stated: “42 deaths have been recorded among 296 confirmed cases of hemorrhagic fever over the past nine months since the beginning of this year.” The majority of cases were recorded in Dhi Qar Governorate (114 cases, including 11 deaths), a poor rural area in the south of the country where cows, sheep, goats, and buffaloes are raised, all of which are intermediate carriers of this disease.
In 2022, between January 1 and May 22, Iraq recorded at least 212 cases and 27 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. A WHO official attributed the increase in cases at the time to several hypotheses, noting the absence of animal disinfection campaigns during 2020 and 2021 because of closures related to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to a rise in insect populations.
There is no vaccine for this disease for either humans or animals. Symptoms include fever, muscle pain, and abdominal pain, and when it progresses, it leads to bleeding from the eyes, ears, and nose, progressing to organ failure, resulting in death at a rate ranging from 10 to 40 percent of those infected, according to the World Health Organization.
