Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus in Iraq: isolation, identification and electron microscopy

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus was isolated for the first time in Iraq from the blood of three patients. It caused a cytopathic effect in lamb kidney and BHK-21 cell cultures. The virus particles were spherical, enveloped and had 90 nm in diameter similar particles were found in ultrathin sections of the liver from two fatal cases. The isolated virus proved to be antigenically closely related to CCHF virus.