Health authorities say hospitals in northeastern Greece have been put on alert after a woman died of a form of insect-carried fever.

A Health Ministry statement says tests showed the Greek woman was infected with Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever after being bitten by a tick when working in the fields. She died June 25 in a hospital in the city of Alexandroupoli, hospital officials say.

The fever is more common among livestock. Health officials said Thursday the disease can only be transmitted among humans through contact with blood or other infected tissues.

It is endemic in many countries in Africa, Europe and Asia; Turkey has a current outbreak.

The World Health Organization says the mortality rate from the disease is approximately 30 percent