CDC: Newly Identified Virus Linked to Kansas Man’s Death
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Credit: James Gathany/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that a new virus may have been responsible for the death of a Kansas man last year.
In an article posted online ahead of print, the CDC says the patient was previously healthy and sought medical care in the late spring. He reported a history of tick bite, fever and fatigue, and though he was prescribed medication, his condition did not improve. Eleven days after the onset of illness, the CDC says the patient died of cardiopulmonary arrest.
Initial tests done to identify tickborne pathogens were negative, but later tests showed the presence of another virus that the CDC believes is “a novel member of the genus Thogotovirus.”
Diseases in the Thogotovirus family are primarily associated with ticks.
The CDC says there have been seven cases of human infection with viruses in the Thogotovirus category.
The virus has been named the Bourbon virus, for the county in which the Kansas patient lived.
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