New markers predicting prognosis in patients with Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: HDL cholesterol and eosinophil levels

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a potentially fatal zoonotic disease caused by a tick-borne virus from the genus Orthonairovirus. This study investigates the feasibility of using high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and eosinophils as novel parameters in determining the prognosis of the disease. Sixty patients with CCHF admitted to our hospital's infectious diseases ward between March and September 2022 were included in the study. The patients'CCHF reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR tests performed on blood samples were positive. Their recorded clinical findings and routine laboratory, biochemistry, complete blood count, and coagulation tests were investigated retrospectively. The patients'demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were recorded, and the disease severity was scored. The patients were then assigned into one of three groups depending on that severity. HDL, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), cholesterol, and triglyceride values were compared between the groups. Negative correlations were observed between HDL, LDL, and cholesterol values and increasing disease severity, while no difference was determined between the groups' triglyceride values. Eosinophil values were also negatively correlated with disease severity between the three groups. The most marked correlations with disease severity were observed in HDL and eosinophils. New scoring systems for determining the prognosis of CCHF have been investigated in recent years. HDL and eosinophil levels may represent the most important prognostic parameters in these novel scoring systems.