CCHF Africa 2023: To establish collaborations within Africa for African researchers.

Dear Colleagues

We are pleased to invite you to the 1^st CCHFV Africa meeting hosted by the University of the Free State and Karolinska Institute, which will be held at the Breakwater lodge, Cape Town, South Africa, from 3 to 4 May 2023.

The CCHFV Africa 2023 conference is the first of its kind and aims to create a platform for African researchers to showcase their research and interact with colleagues to establish collaborations and open communication to further the preparedness capacity for CCHF outbreaks in Africa.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus is a tick-borne virus with the propensity to cause severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with case fatalities of up to 30%. This fatality rate can increase to 40% during nosocomial outbreaks. 

Preparedness for CCHF viral outbreaks in Africa can only be improved through increased awareness campaigns and active research and surveillance ventures. These activities will also aid in the process of developing and establishing preventative measures among high-risk populations. In terms of research and development, Africa is in dire need of inexpensive, rapid, sensitive, and accurate diagnostic tools which could preferably be employed in field contexts. In addition, the only current treatment for CCHF is supportive therapy and the use of the anti-viral, ribavirin, the usefulness of which is limited to administration early after onset of illness. Thus, it emphasises the need to study the pathogenic mechanisms of this virus to ultimately find novel or supplementary treatment options.

To facilitate participation, there will be no registration fee for African participants. Travel and accommodation funding will be available for participants who are submitting abstracts. As there are limited space available, funding will be allocated based on acceptance of the abstracts.

Breakwater Lodge is in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, which is ideally situated for international access, and is walking distance to various restaurants and tourist hotspots. The hotel offers airport shuttles.

We encourage you to join us and contribute your knowledge and experience of CCHFV during the 1^st CCHFV Africa meeting.

Regards