Alkhurma Haemorrhagic Fever in Travellers

Alkhurma haemorrhagic fever (AHFV) is an important emerging virus and is classified as a variant genotype of Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV). The first report of AHF was in the mid-1990s when the virus was isolated from the blood of a patient admitted with a febrile haemorrhagic illness to a private hospital in the city of Jeddah in the western part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Later, the virus was recognized in many patients in Saudi Arabia and was rarely reported outside the Kingdom in Egypt and Djibouti. AHFV causes a relatively low case fatality rate of 1%. AHFV is a zoonotic disease, and transmission occurs from livestock animals to humans through direct contact with the blood of slaughtered animals and consumption of raw milk.