Newly discovered virus appears to have killed Kan. man

A newly discovered virus – probably spread by ticks – appears to have killed a Kansas man, federal health officials said Friday.

The man became ill last spring after being bitten by ticks while working on his property. Doctors sent his blood to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where sophisticated genetic tests found that he was infected with a previously undiscovered virus never known to cause illness in the U.S.

CDC scientists are calling it the Bourbon virus because the man lived in Bourbon, County, Kansas. The Bourbon virus belongs to a family called thogotoviruses; its closest relatives have only been found in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The man, whose illness began with nausea, weakness and diarrhea, became progressively sicker, developed a fever and chills.

His doctor treated him with antibiotics, a standard therapy for illness related to tick bites, which can transmit bacteria. The man's doctors "did all the right things," says J. Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.

The man, who was previously healthy and in his 50s, eventually became so sick that doctors transferred him to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, the CDC says. Doctors tested him for a variety of well-known viruses but found nothing they recognized. Eventually, they sent his blood sample to the CDC for advanced tests.

The case is perplexing for several reasons.

Thogotoviruses usually make people sick by causing meningitis, an inflammation of the lining of the brain, or a brain inflammation called encephalitis. They aren't known for causing problems with blood cells, according to the CDC.

But early blood tests of the Kansas man showed that he had a decline in his white blood cells, which fight infections, as well as his platelets, which help the blood to clot. Those symptoms are similar to those of ehrlichiosis, a bacterial illness caused by ticks that has been diagnosed in the USA, Staples says.

Ticks also can carry Heartland virus, another newly discovered microbe that has sickened eight people in Tennessee and Missouri since 2012. Heartland virus can also cause a decline in blood cells.

It's possible that Bourbon virus has been around for years but hasn't been noticed because it never made anyone this sick before, Staples says. It's possible, for example, that the virus normally causes illness too mild for people to go to the doctor, so that people assume they have a stomach bug. The Kansas man's death could be a rare case in which a common virus proves deadly. Or, it's also possible that the virus has changed or evolved to become more dangerous.

Sophisticated lab tests have allowed scientists to discover a variety of new pathogens in recent years, from tick-borne illnesses to new strains of influenza.

"As diagnostic techniques have improved and surveillance of unexplained illnesses have increased, it is not surprising to find novel pathogens," says Amesh Adalja, senior associate at the Center for Health Security of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

"It will be important to determine how widespread the Bourbon virus is in both ticks, insects, animals and humans and to grasp the spectrum of illness it is capable of causing," Adalja says. "The fact that a novel virus was discovered underscores the need for perpetual vigilance, in all locales, with respect to emerging infectious diseases. It is only by leaving no stone unturned when investigating unexplained illnesses that humans can best prepare for microbial threats."

Ticks also can cause Lyme disease, although that illness is typically diagnosed on the East Coast and upper Midwest, not in Kansas.

While ticks aren't a problem in the winter, people can protect themselves from ticks in warm weather by wearing insect repellent, long pants, long-sleeved shirts and staying out of woodsy areas, the CDC says.