TEHRAN -- A senior veterinary official said here Monday that only some 123 cases of carriers of an ebola-type disease, known as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, have so far been identified in Iran, stressing that that would be no cause of concern.

Dr. Behrouz Yassemi, the head of the public relations office of the State Veterinary Organization, said serious measures has been taken to uproot the disease.

He had earlier rejected recent reports that 30 percent of the country's cattle had been contaminated with the disease, stressing that the results of medical samples taken from the smuggled cattle from Afghanistan, where the disease is said to originate from, have indicated only a 1.6 percent contamination.

Iran's health officials recently sounded public alarm over the spread of a contagious disease which is common among humans and animals.

The symptoms of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever are similar to those of flu; bleeding in the nose, gums, bowels and urine are added symptoms. The virus is usually transmitted by infected sheep, cows and camels.

It is endemic in parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, parts of southern Europe and most of North Africa.

The illness is seasonal since the ticks emerge in spring, live through the warmer months, and die out in winter.

The disease first appeared in the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine between 1944-1945. In 1956, it unleashed its rage against Congo, killing thousands in that African country.

In Iran, the Crimean Congo fever was first tracked down in the northeastern province of Khorasan in 1978. The virus entered the country through imported cattle from the eastern borders.