The Keystone virus made its first known jump from mosquitoes to humans. Here is what you need to know

SALT LAKE CITY – Scientists have just confirmed a new virus that jumps mosquitoes to humans.

As USA Today reported, scientists believe that the Keystone virus could become widespread now that doctors have a confirmed human case: a 16-year-old boy in North Florida.

Researchers from the University of Florida discovered the Keystone virus in boys in August 2016. Health professionals thought that he had the Zika virus because it was a problem spread that year.

"We could not identify what was going on," said J. Glenn Morris, director of the University's Emerging Pathogens Institute, at WUSF. "We tested this with all standard approaches and it took literally a year and a half of hard laboratory work to understand what this virus was."

The boy has been tested positive for the Keystone virus, which comes from mosquitoes and is often considered a cousin of the Zika virus, according to USA Today.

The researchers said in the medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases that the disease could soon spread to more people.

"All kinds of viruses are transmitted by mosquitoes, but we do not fully understand the transmission rate of the disease," Morris said in a statement. "Further research on the spread of vector-borne diseases will help us shed light on the pathogens of greatest concern to human and animal health."

Currently, there are no plans or ideas on how to cure infected humans.

According to NPR, researchers first discovered the disease in 1964 in the Keystone area of ​​Florida, hence its name.

Since then, the disease "has been found in animal populations along coastal areas extending from Texas to Chesapeake Bay," according to the University of Florida's statement on the disease.

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The virus can cause a rash and a mild fever for humans, according to NPR.

The young boy with the disease has not suffered from "encephalitis or inflammation of the brain," according to the NPR, even though the disease has been known to cause these conditions.

"Although the virus has never been found in humans, the infection can be quite common in North Florida," Morris said in a statement. "It's one of those cases where if you do not know how to look for something, you do not find it."