molecular assay on crimean congo hemorrhagic fever virus in ticks (ixodidae) collected from kermanshah province, western iran

background: crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever (cchf) is a feverous and hemorrhagic disease endemic in some parts of iran and caused by an arbovirus related to bunyaviridae family and nairovirusgenus. the main virus reser­voir in the nature is ticks, however small vertebrates and a wide range of domestic and wild animals are regarded as reservoir hosts. this study was conducted to determine the infection rate of cchf virus in hard ticks of sarpole-zahab county, kermanshah province, west of iran. methods: from total number of 851 collected ticks from 8 villages, 131 ticks were selected randomlyand investi­gated for detection of cchf virus using rt-pcr. results: the virus was found in 3.8% of the tested ticks. hyalommaanatolicum , h.asiaticum and rhipicephalus sanguineus species were found to have viral infection, with the highest infection rate (11.11%) in rh. sanguineus. conclusion: these findings provide epidemiological evidence for planning control strategies of the disease in the study area.