Pasteur International Center for Research on Emerging Infectious Diseases
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The LOCHUM study aims at characterizing human immune responses to the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV), the most widespread tick-borne disease in humans and the only biosafety level 4 viral pathogen circulating in Europe. Yet despite its significance for public health, its prevalence, and its genomic diversity, the relative contributions of antigenic drift and shift and recombination in the evolution of CCHFV are still unknown, which is challenging for developing vaccines and therapies. Hence, this study seeks to reduce our knowledge gaps associated with human immunological responses to this virus.

We hypothesize that the identification of immuno-dominant T cell epitopes, TCR meta-clonotypes, and characterization of virus specific antibodies, B and T cell responses in CCHFV patients will allow us to quantify the quality and breadth of specific adaptive immune responses to CCHF infection.