Education webinar on May 6: "Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus: an emerging threat in Europe and France"

The Department of Education, in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur Alumni Association and the Francophone University Agency (AUF) – Western Europe, is pleased to invite you to attend the latest in its series of "Education Webinars."

This new webinar entitled "Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus: an emerging threat in Europe and France" will be led by Simon Bessis, a physician specializing in infectious diseases by training and PhD student in the Institut Pasteur’s Biology of Viral Emerging Infections Unit (Lyon). For his PhD, he is currently developing a vaccine platform for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus, and studying the pathophysiology of severe forms of the disease using an IFNAR KO mouse model.

CCHF, caused by a nairovirus transmitted by ticks of the genus Hyalomma spp. has spread geographically to worrying levels over the past several decades as a result of climate change and the migration of host birds. While the disease is endemic in several world regions (Central Asia, Africa, Balkans, Turkey), human cases have been reported in Spain since 2013, and ticks carrying the virus have been recently identified in France. The risk to the general population is low right now, but specific populations – livestock farmers, forestry and slaughterhouse workers, veterinarians – are more exposed.

The webinar will run online via Zoom in French on Tuesday May 6, 2025 at 2pm.

Read a summary of the presentation and sign up for the event

Catch up with past webinars