CRIMEAN-CONGO HEMORRHAGIC-FEVER IN TICKS (ACARI, IXODIDAE) AND RUMINANTS - FIELD OBSERVATIONS OF AN EPIZOOTIC IN BANDIA, SENEGAL (1989-1992)

From 1989 to 1992, a longitudinal study of the relationships between d ifferent tick species and domestic ungulates in the transmission and a mplification of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus was under taken in the Bandia area in Senegal where the presence of the virus ha d been reported previously. An epizootic occurred in 1991-1992 and 22 strains of CCHF virus were isolated from Hyalomma marginatum rufipes K och, Amblyomma variegatum (F.), Rhipicephalus guilhoni Morel & Vassili ades, and R. evertsi evertsi Neumann ticks collected from cattle and g oats. No human cases were reported. Transmission of CCHF virus in the area involves a complicated pattern including many tick species and ho sts. Amplicons of the S fragment (536 bp) of the CCHF genome of 12 iso lates from the study were obtained by polymerase chain reaction and an alyzed by restriction length fragment polymorphism. Three different ge notypes of CCHF virus were identified and present during the epizootic . One genotype was recovered from A. variegatum, R. guilhoni, and R. e . evertsi and 2 genotypes were isolated from H. m. rufipes.