Two patients in Spain suspected of having Crimea-Congo fever tested negative

Two patients suspected of having Crimea-Congo fever have given negative test results and do not have the potentially fatal hemorrhaging fever, which has claimed one life in Spain, health authority confirmed Sunday.

The two patients (both women) were taken to hospital on Friday after showing symptoms and gave sampled which health authorities said "fulfil the criteria to be investigated" at the National Center for Microbiology.

One of the women has now been discharged from hospital and although the other is still receiving treatment, she has been removed from isolation, said the Regional Health Authority in the Community of Madrid.

Meanwhile a nurse who is suffering from the illness is still described as "stable but serious condition" and is currently in isolation at the Carlos III Hospital in Madrid.

She became infected while treating a 62-year-old man who died of Crimea-Congo fever on Aug. 25. The man is thought to have been infected after being bitten by a tick while walking in field close to the town of Avila, northwest of Madrid, in what is the first confirmed case of the illness in Western Europe.

Crimea-Congo fever is a tick-borne illness with a mortality rate of up to 40 percent which is endemic in Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East. It can also be transmitted through direct contact with the blood, secretions and the organs of infected people. Endit