Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne zoonotic disease caused by the arbovirus Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV). Livestock serve as a transient reservoir for CCHFV, but do not show clinical signs. In this cross-sectional study, sheep and goats in Balochistan, Pakistan, were examined to determine the CCHFV seroprevalence, spatial distribution of seropositive sheep and goats, and to identify potential risk factors for seropositivity to CCHFV in these animals. To this end, farms and animals were selected by systematic sampling, blood samples from 800 sheep and 800 goats were collected and information regarding farm management and the kept animals were retrieved using a standard questionnaire. Sera were tested for antibodies against CCHFV in two independent ELISA formats and an immunofluorescence assay (IFA) following a hierarchical diagnostic decision tree. By these assays 149 (19 %, 95 %-CI: 16–21 %) out of 800 sheep serum samples and 37 (5 %, 95 %-CI: 3–6 %) out of 800 goat serum samples were positive for CCHFV-specific IgG antibodies. Interestingly, at least 8 (5 %, 95 %-CI: 2–10 %) out of 160 sera pools were from CCHFV viraemic sheep, as sera (in pools of 5) tested positive for CCHFV genome by real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). Risk factor analysis revealed that the open type of housing (OR = 3.76, 95 %-CI:1.57-9.56, p-value = 0.003), grazing (OR = 4.18, 95 %-CI:1.79-10.37, p-value = 0.001), presence of vegetation in or around the farm (OR = 3.13, 95 %-CI: 1.07–10.15, p-value = 0.043), lack of treatment against ticks (OR = 3.31, 95 %-CI: 1.16–10.21, p-value = 0.029), absence of rural poultry (OR = 2.93, 95 %-CI: 1.41–6.29, p-value = 0.004), animals with age ≥ 2 years (OR = 4.15, 95 %-CI: 2.84–6.19, p-value<0.001), animals infested with ticks (OR = 2.35, 95 %-CI: 1.59–3.52, p-value<0.001), and sheep species (OR = 4.72, 95 %-CI:3.24-6.86, p-value<0.001) represented statistically significant risk factors associated with seropositivity to CCHFV. Taken together this study confirms the circulation of CCHFV in livestock in Balochistan, Pakistan. The identification of risk factors might help to reduce the risk of infection in sheep and goats, which may also mitigate the risk for human infection. An interesting option for reducing the risk of CCHFV infection in small ruminants is keeping also chickens, since they pick ticks that transmit CCHFV.

克里米亚刚果出血热（CCHF）是由虫媒病毒克里米亚刚果出血热病毒（CCHFV）引起的a传播的人畜共患病。牲畜可作为CCHFV的暂时贮藏库，但未显示出临床体征。在这项横断面研究中，检查了巴基斯坦Bal路支斯坦的绵羊和山羊，以确定CCHFV的血清阳性率，血清阳性的绵羊和山羊的空间分布，并确定这些动物中CCHFV的血清阳性的潜在危险因素。为此，通过系统采样选择了农场和动物，收集了800只绵羊和800只山羊的血样，并使用标准问卷调查了有关农场管理和饲养动物的信息。在两种独立的ELISA格式下，按照分级诊断决策树对血清进行了针对CCHFV的抗体测试，并进行了免疫荧光测定（IFA）。通过这些测定，在800份羊血清样品中有149（19％，95％-CI：16–21％）和800（800％山羊血清样品中有37（5％，95％-CI：3–6％）对CCHFV呈阳性特异性IgG抗体。有趣的是，在160个血清库中，至少有8个（5％，95％-CI：2-10％）来自CCHFV病毒羊，因为通过实时PCR（RT）检测到的血清（5个池中）对CCHFV基因组呈阳性-qPCR）。风险因素分析显示，开放式住房（OR = 3.76，95％-CI：1.57-9.56，p-值= 0.003），放牧（OR = 4.18，95％-CI：1.79-10.37，p-值= 0.001），农场内部或周围存在植被（OR = 3.13，95％-CI：1.07-10.15，p值= 0.043），缺乏对s虫的处理（OR = 3.31，95％-CI：1。≥ 2年（OR = 4.15，95％-CI：2.84–6.19，p-值<0.001），感染tick虫的动物（OR = 2.35，95％-CI：1.59-3.52，p-值<0.001），和绵羊种（OR = 4.72，95％-CI：3.24-6.86，p值<0.001）在统计学上与CCHFV的血清阳性呈正相关。总而言之，这项研究证实了巴基斯坦och路支省家畜中CCHFV的流通。识别风险因素可能有助于降低感染绵羊和山羊的风险，也可以减轻人类感染的风险。减少小反刍动物CCHFV感染风险的一个有趣的选择是还饲养鸡，因为它们会拾取传播CCHFV的tick。