Germany and Kosovo have forged a scientific partnership to address the growing threat of the Hyalomma tick, commonly known as “the great hunting tick,” which carries the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. While this species was historically confined to Africa, Asia, and southern Europe, climate change has enabled it to survive further north, with sightings now reported in Germany and across Eastern Europe.
Kosovo, located in southeastern Europe, has long been a hotspot for the tick. It serves as a primary vector for the highly pathogenic virus responsible for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a disease with a significant fatality rate. Symptoms resemble those of Ebola and Marburg viruses, potentially leading to internal bleeding, destruction of blood vessels, and death.
The collaboration began after Kurtesh Sherifi, a veterinarian at the University of Pristina, read about an outbreak in his homeland while studying in Berlin in 2005. Upon returning to Kosovo, Sherifi found that limited research budgets and a lack of high-security laboratories hindered his ability to investigate the virus. He subsequently reached out to the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, one of Germany’s leading institutions for such studies.
Petra Emmerich, a virologist and expert on Risk Group 4 viruses at the institute, met Sherifi during a 2009 assignment in Kosovo. Emmerich, who also serves as a reservist in the German military, noted the strategic interest in pathogens that could potentially be used as biological weapons. The partnership quickly evolved into a structured exchange of knowledge, funded starting in 2013 through Germany’s Biosecurity Program, managed by the Foreign Ministry.
“It’s give and take,” Emmerich explained. “We have the diagnostic expertise and the necessary resources but we don’t have the patients.” German doctors regularly travel to Kosovo to collaborate with local counterparts, combining diagnostic capabilities with direct patient access.
A critical component of the initiative is public awareness, particularly among farmers who are at high risk. In Kosovo, many infections occur not just from tick bites, but because farmers handle animals with bare hands. If infected blood enters a small wound, the virus can transmit to humans. Sherifi noted that this method likely accounts for a large proportion of infections in the region.
Researchers have also visited schools to educate students on prevention, recommending tick repellents, long pants, and sturdy shoes. Although not all Hyalomma ticks carry the virus, and most bites do not result in illness, there is currently no vaccine or highly effective specific treatment for contracted cases. Ribavirin is administered, but its effectiveness in acutely ill patients is limited.
Monitoring efforts include collecting thousands of ticks and conducting seroprevalence studies using farm animals, which do not show symptoms but indicate viral circulation in an area. These efforts have yielded results: serious infections in Kosovo dropped from approximately 100 cases in one decade to just five in the last ten years.
Despite this success, researchers warn that the ticks are continuing to spread geographically. Recent detections of Hyalomma ticks carrying the virus in France highlight the expanding range, although no human infections have been reported there yet. Emmerich emphasized the need for close monitoring and urged sharing their expertise with neighboring countries like Macedonia and Albania, which have less experience tracking these vectors.
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