New York Finds 1st Bourbon Virus Tick as Warming Fuels Northeast Spread

3 articles · Updated · The Independent · Jul 24

Stony Brook Medicine scientists identified the first lone star tick in New York carrying Bourbon virus, prompting a warning that the rare but potentially deadly illness may be spreading in the Northeast.
Doctors say the virus is likely underdiagnosed because its symptoms overlap with Lyme and other tickborne illnesses, and one severe patient was initially treated for Lyme without improvement before Bourbon virus was identified.
No vaccine, preventive medicine or routine confirmatory test exists for Bourbon virus, leaving surveillance and clinical test development as the main tools for detecting infections in high-risk areas.
Lone star ticks are already common across the Northeast, and researchers said warmer, more hospitable conditions are pushing tick populations northward, raising the risk of more cases.
Bourbon virus was first identified in 2014 and has caused 3 known deaths—this year, in 2017 and in the original case—while confirmed detections have been reported in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.