A middle-aged man in Spain has been hospitalised after contracting a deadly fever with shocking symptoms, including bleeding from the eyes.

Known as Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), the condition is a rare but unpleasant disease not native to the UK. The man was first treated in a hospital in the Castile and Leon region of Spain, before being airlifted elsewhere.

There is a range of symptoms, including bleeding from the eyes, stomach pain, headaches, and vomiting. A patient may also suffer with joint pain, jaundice, mood swings, and red eyes in the early phases of the disease.

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Mortality rates for those contracting the disease are around 30%, with death occurring within two weeks of the illness according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

As the virus progresses, symptoms can worsen into "large areas of severe bruising" and "severe nosebleeds". Not much is known about the recovery phases yet, but it is generally expected to be slow.

At the moment, there is no drug or vaccine that is used specifically to treat or prevent CCHF. Experts are therefore working hard to stop the spread of it.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said: "Prevention, early diagnosis and barrier nursing of patients are the only means to avoid viral spread. Work with infectious CCHFV particles requires a maximum bio-containment laboratory."

The name CCHF is due to the virus first being identified in Crimea back in 1944. It was then first isolated in the Congo region more than a decade later. Usually, the virus is limited to the Balkans, North Africa, Spain, Turkey, and Russia, with very few cases in Western and Northern Europe.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed that a woman had caught the virus in March earlier this year. However, chief medical adviser Dr Susan Hopkins insisted the illness "does not spread easily between people and the overall risk to the public is very low".

Dr Hopkins told the Mirror : "UKHSA and the NHS have well-established and robust infection control procedures for dealing with cases of imported infectious disease and these will be strictly followed."

There has only been a total of three reported cases in the UK, with CCHF never being found in a tick native to the UK. Spreading the disease is rare.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that ticks are a "reservoir and a vector" for the disease: "Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood. CCHF can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids."

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