Back in 2014, a farmer from Bourbon County, Kansas developed a high fever.
He also had a rash and was nauseous.
At the hospital, he told doctors that he had been bitten by several ticks.
Everyone then assumed he had Lyme disease.
But his blood work didn’t show any signs of Lyme disease.
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The results did show he had a different virus.
The doctors assumed that the virus had been caused by all the tick bites.
After doing some research, the doctors realized that the man had a new kind of infection that had not been seen anywhere before.
They named is the “Bourbon virus.”
Tragically, the farmer ended up dying from complications of the infection.
The Bourbon virus is similar to another virus call the Bakken thogotovirus.
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That virus is endemic to Asia (and also caused by ticks), but Bourbon virus couldn’t be treated the same way – unfortunately for us.
The doctors wondered if the Bourbon virus was just a fluke until a year later (in 2015) a person bitten by a tick in Stillwater, Oklahoma contracted the Bourbon virus.
The doctors were able to treat this individual, and they made a full recovery.
Currently, there is no vaccine for Bourbon virus, and doctors do not yet fully understand it.
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The only advice the medical community has is to avoid tick bites. Most of us try to do that on a daily basis anyway!
But, do spread the word about this scary virus to your friends.
The CDC recommends the use of insect repellents and for people to wear long sleeves and pants.
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Share away, people.