As if we didn’t already have enough reasons to hate ticks, a recently discovered virus carried by ticks has been confirmed in the Northeast for the first time. And health officials say it’s likely more widespread than people think.
According to research published earlier this year, two people in Suffolk County, New York tested positive for the Bourbon virus after they’d been bitten by ticks, with one of them being hospitalized.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the primary carrier of the Bourbon virus is the Lone Star tick, which is also known to carry a virus that can cause an allergy to red meat, a condition known as Alpha-gal Syndrome.
Symptoms of Bourbon virus include fever, fatigue, rash, headache, body aches, nausea, and vomiting.
The Bourbon virus currently has no vaccine, medication, or commercially available test.
The Lone Star tick has been spreading into the Northeast in recent years, including in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Because the Lone Star tick is spreading, and because Bourbon virus symptoms are similar to other tick-borne viruses, the researchers who confirmed the two New York cases said the virus is likely more widespread in the Northeast than people think.
“There are a lot of lone start ticks in New York and in the Northeast, we have dense populations, and when someone is infected with Bourbon virus symptoms they are similar to other tick-born infections,” said Luis Marcos, MD, the study’s lead author and professor in the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, and director of the Tick-borne Disease Clinic. “For these reasons, the Bourbon virus is likely more prevalent than we think in our region and other cases are likely not being diagnosed.”
