Deadly tick-borne virus 'strips away' immune system defences

A deadly virus that can kill up to 80 per cent of people infected with it manages to "strip away" the body's immune system defences, according to new research.

Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine, examined the Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, (CCHFV) a disease that has broken out in recent years in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

In their findings, published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe, they discovered that unlike other viruses, the CCHFV destroyed antiviral molecules attached by the body's cells to proteins in defence against the onset of disease.

"I think over time we're going to discover that pretty much anything host cells have ever done to combat viruses will have been discovered, manipulated, evaded or subverted by one virus or another," warned the report's co-author, Dr Herbert Virgin.

"There's a simple reason for that: viruses have been studying us for a lot longer than we've been studying them," he added.

According to figures provided in the study, CCHFV has a mortality rate of anything between eight and 80 per cent.

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