Another disease transmitted by ticks to worry about

When a tick gets into your skin, anchoring for what can be a quiet meal while often spreading germs, you do not have to worry about Lyme disease.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Infection, various types of ticks can carry at least 16 different diseases in the United States that can infect humans. Now add one last item to the worldwide list of ailments that a tick bite can cause, according to a May 30 study. New England Journal of Medicine.

The study, which identifies a new disease transmitted by ticks, shows that we still do not know how many of these diseases can be borne by ticks. "We continue to discover new viruses," said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, director of the parasitology laboratory and co-director of the Mayo Clinic's vector-borne disease laboratory services. She did not participate in the study.

The newly discovered disease was discovered in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of China. In April 2017, a farmer from the 42-year-old Mongolian city Alongshan went to a county hospital, complaining of fever and headaches. She had a history of tick bites. In their search for the cause of the patient's fever, the researchers dismissed the diseases transmitted by the usual ticks in the area. Using genome sequencing, a process of determining the composition of an organism's DNA, they have isolated a new agent causing disease that they have called Alongshan virus, or ALSV, after the village of the patient's origin.

Additional tests revealed 86 additional patients in the same Inner Mongolia region infected with ALSV. "No permanent clinical complications or deaths have occurred in patients with a confirmed infection," authors of various universities and Chinese laboratories wrote in the journal's article.

Patients in the study had symptoms of headache and fever after an average of three to seven days after a tick bite, according to an email responding to questions from Quan Liu, author of the report. study at the Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering of Foshan. University of Foshan, China. They have been treated with ribavirin, an antiviral, and benzylpenicillin sodium, an antibiotic, for three to five days, he wrote. "The symptoms usually go away after six to eight days of treatment and all patients are completely cured."

Diseases from a variety of ticks are present worldwide, but with regional differences depending on the virus or tick-borne bacteria in the area. Until now, ASLV has only been found in Inner Mongolia in Ixodes persulcatus ticks, according to the study. It has also been found in mosquitoes in the same area, so researchers can not be certain that patients have become sick from a tick bite or a mosquito.

Like ASLV sufferers, most patients cure diseases caused by tick bites – although some tick-borne diseases can lead to persistent joint pain, altered muscle movements and fatigue.

But the discovery of a new disease can only reinforce the need for people to take precautions to avoid tick bites.

In the United States, where more than 59,000 cases of tick-borne diseases were reported in 2017, the tick season is just beginning. "Once the snow melts, the ticks come out, stay away from tall grbades and woodlands," says Pritt. "If you go to these areas, wear protective clothing and use an insect repellent containing DEET."

The CDC also suggests treating garments and camping gear with repellent permethrin, walking in the center of trails to avoid brushing against plants and leaves, bathing and checking your body for ticks after outdoor excursion.

And if you have a fever that is not easy to explain or diagnose, be sure to inform your doctor of any trips you have made or of your last outdoor experiences, says Pritt.

"The main theme is that the more we look at ticks, the more we find them," says Wendy Adams, Director of Research Grants at the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, who did not participate in the study. "We find parasites, viruses, bacteria, we just found worms in ticks in New York." This means that when humans are bitten by ticks, they can contract many diseases and infections – even a disease transmitted by a parasite inside a tick.

Susan Brink is an independent writer who covers health and medicine. She is the author of The fourth quarterand co-author of A change of heart.

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