A dire warning has been issued {that a} lethal virus at present spreading throughout Europe will inevitably attain the UK. According to an professional, it isn't a matter of if, however when this may occur.

The containment measures used through the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to lockdowns, can be ineffective towards the transmission of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), as confirmed by the identical professional speaking to Mirror.

This virus has already claimed lives in Iraq, Pakistan, and Namibia, and new circumstances are rising all through Europe.

Professor James Wood, who just lately addressed Parliament's Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee, acknowledged: "I mean, it's a kind of when rather than if, I think all in all likelihood.

"There is a threat of unfold given the best way that illnesses rising."

The expert stressed that implementing a lockdown would not be suitable for containing CCHF, which presents symptoms such as unpleasant rashes and neck pain.

Prof Wood, an academic from the University of Cambridge, further explained: "You'd be unlikely to get the kind of respiratory transmission. So even say, I do not wish to name them excessive lockdown fans, however, somebody who thinks that these measures are essential to, to impose straightaway, I do not assume it could be acceptable as it isn't proper for this type of an infection."

While CCHF is primarily transmitted through ticks, which are often carried by migratory birds, the likelihood of human-to-human transmission is lower. However, with the impact of global warming leading to the movement of various tick species towards warmer regions, the UK may become susceptible to the virus, especially considering the return of June's heatwave.

Professor Wood suggested several precautionary measures that people in the UK can take, such as wearing long trousers in areas where ticks are prevalent, such as tall grasslands. Additionally, since ticks can be carried by animals like sheep and goats, farmers are particularly at risk of infection. When ticks bite humans or animals, they rely on blood for nourishment.

He added: "Try to maintain them off our our legs, maybe sporting lengthy cotton trousers, both tucked into socks or not. So lots of people in in very thick, dense areas will will verify their legs and stuff for ticks after they go away the dense grass or bracken, the place lots of ticks could be discovered.

"It can spread but you should expect it more really in hospital-type settings where people don't realise what's going on and haven't taken appropriate safety measures, like PPE, what we are so used to seeing hospital workers wear anyway.

"The fatality fee is as much as 40 per cent. Lots of so a good variety of folks in Spain have died from it."

Despite acknowledging the inevitable arrival of CCHF in the UK, the professor stressed the presence of uncertainty surrounding the virus. Ongoing research is being conducted to determine the specific timeline of its arrival. There is concern among experts regarding the role of migratory birds native to the UK, such as the house sparrow and blue jay, in carrying ticks, which adds to the overall uncertainty.

He said: "There's a excessive degree of uncertainty whether or not it may be 5 years, or 15, or 25 by the point it reaches UK. That's the case for these kinds of issues, like CCHF, which haven't been significantly properly studied. Certainly whenever you evaluate them to illnesses like Lyme illness or, or different tick infections, that we learn about, there's lots of uncertainty round it.

"It's very difficult to add any kind of precision to that and it would be a mistake to, frankly, and so none of us are trying to say, you know that 'we're all going to die' or 'we're all doomed'. It's just about being aware that because of the way the world is changing, we've got to be much more aware of these sorts of infections in the way that we haven't been in the past."