common virus<\/a>.<\/p>\nAfter extensive testing of blood samples and viral fragments, researchers identified the new virus, ALTNV, which is genetically distinct from DBV.<\/p>\n
Researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity in Beijing identified the virus in 10.4% of 3,163 patients who had been bitten by ticks.<\/p>\n
Since 2009, Chinese researchers have been tracking patients with unusual illnesses, including severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). Henk \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Patients who had both ALTNV and DBV were more likely to have respiratory issues and kidney complications. Seven (18.4%) of these patients died during the course of the study.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cocirculation of ALTNV and DBV in the same areas, coupled with their shared tick vector, underscores the need for improved differential diagnosis between infections with these viruses in regions where SFTS is endemic,\u201d the authors concluded.<\/p>\n
The findings were published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big picture is that ticks carry lots of viruses,\u201d Nachman said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting smarter at identifying those viruses. And when one blood sample is negative, it\u2019s important to say, \u2018Maybe there was a new virus there, and let\u2019s look for it.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Symptoms and treatment<\/p>\n
Illness from ALTNV can initially resemble the flu, causing fever, muscle aches, fatigue and sometimes respiratory symptoms.<\/p>\n
Although an ALTNV infection can cause low platelet counts, the study did not link the virus alone to severe bleeding or deaths. The fatal cases involved patients who were also infected with DBV, which causes severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome.<\/p>\n
Illness from ALTNV can initially resemble the flu, causing fever, muscle aches, fatigue and sometimes respiratory symptoms. bogdan vacarciuc \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
Because tick-borne viral symptoms can overlap with many infections, Nachman emphasized the importance of identifying the specific virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cEffective antivirals exist for flu, but not for many tick-borne viruses, including the newly identified one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
For most patients, supportive care is given to help manage symptoms, \u201cbut it\u2019s also about being smart and not giving patients the wrong medication,\u201d Nachman noted. \u201cAnd we certainly don\u2019t want to use antibiotics because those only work for bacteria, not for viruses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preventing tick bites<\/p>\n
Nachman shared the best practices she recommends to families looking to\u00a0avoid tick bites.<\/p>\n
\u201cWear the right clothing, meaning long pants, tucking them into your socks, and use tick repellents on your skin if you\u2019re an adult or on your clothing if you\u2019re a young child,\u201d she advised.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also important to be on the lookout for ticks on the skin.<\/p>\n
The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Gado via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe longer the tick is on your skin, the more it\u2019s engorged, the more it\u2019s likely to pass an infection to you,\u201d Nachman said. \u201cSo, removing them after you\u2019ve gone hiking or walking on the beach will be really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the Asian longhorn tick is not yet seen in the U.S., Nachman noted there are \u201clots and lots of other ticks, and those ticks carry other diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t want to say one tick is worse than another tick. It\u2019s rather all about the diseases they carry and who you are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, if you\u2019re a healthy adult, and you get babesiosis, you often get better without any medications. But if you\u2019re an immune-compromised adult, you\u2019re going to be quite sick.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really about the ticks. It\u2019s about the patient. Who are you? What\u2019s your underlying illness if you have any? How old are you, and how healthy are you?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists in China have identified a previously unknown tick-borne virus that can cause flu-like illness, fatigue and gastrointestinal…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1044530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[74,210,19803,67,132,68,13203],"class_list":["post-1044529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-china","tag-health","tag-ticks","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-virus"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117217363689214945","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1044530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}