A so called “Bourbon Virus,” named after the Kansas county they discovered it in, was successfully isolated by researchers after the mysterious death of a 68-year old man in the spring of 2014.
According to investigators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Kansas man is supposedly the only individual who contracted the Bourbon virus, although it is highly possible there have been some other isolated cases that have remained unidentified.
The man whose identity was not revealed had been working on his Bourbon County farm and he had been bitten by several ticks. After this, according to researchers, the man started to show symptoms of diarrhea, nausea, and general weakness.
Moreover researchers also reported that the man had low blood counts as far as cells that fight infection and help prevent bleeding are concerned. And after just 11 days of being sick, the man died of a heart attack. In other words, the man is likely to have experienced complications from a form of the illness.
The curious thing is that throughout the man’s hospitalization, all test results regarding infectious diseases came back negative, so doctors felt compelled to send the blood samples to the CDC. So as a consequence, a virus new to science was thus discovered.
The virus was identified as a type of Thogotovirus, belonging to a group of viruses that are known to spread through ticks and other insects’ bites. Given the fact that the man had suffered multiple tick bites prior to his falling ill, it is thus believed that the ticks he had were the vector for this fatal condition.
These viruses that belong to the Thogotovirus category have been previously found in Asia, Africa and Europe. But this is the first time the virus has been found in the US.
There is no treatment for the Bourbon Virus for now. Doctors can only treat symptoms of the virus, as they appear.
In order to avoid becoming infected with the Bourbon Virus, the CDC has recommended the public to avoid wooded areas or bushy ones, or to use insect repellents and to wear long sleeves and long pants whenever they are going into places full of vegetation. The CDC also warned people to check themselves for ticks after spending some time outdoors.
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