On Friday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, announced that they reportedly discovered a new virus that could potentially be spread through tick and insect bites. The virus may have been responsible for the death of a healthy Kansas man.
According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment who was working with the Kansas Medical Center, the virus is part of a particular group of viruses called thogoviruses. This particular strand of the virus is being named the Bourbon virus after the area in which it is believe to originate.
The case of the Kansas man who was believed to be infected with the thogovirus is the first case reported of a human falling ill, but the eightieth known case of causing some sort of symptoms in people.
The man infected was a 50 year old male who was working outside on his property in the spring of 2014; a time which made him very susceptible to tick and bug bites. He found an enlarged tick on his shoulder and several days later he complained sick feelings, nauseas, along with weakness and diarrhea. The next day he contracted a fever, the chills, a headache, myalgia, and arthralgia. He was prescribed an antibiotic for tick related illnesses, but on the third day he was taken to the hospital for showing signs of reduced. consciousness.
The CDC is working with the two Kansas based organizations in order to try and discover any other cases of the Bourbon virus. They want to see who has gotten sick and what type of symptoms is being shared with those infected.
Photo Via The CDC
