CDC and Physicians on Alert For New Virus
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is asking healthcare providers to be on alert for a relatively new virus that is believed to be transmitted by tick bite.
Six new cases of the Heartland virus have been identified in the United States according to a report released Friday in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
According to the report, Heartland is a newly discovered phelbovirus that was first identified in the U.S. in 2009. The CDC, in cooperation with state and federal ecological organizations, was able to determine that the virus is most likely transmitted by the Lone Star tick, which is best known as a carrier of Lyme disease.
The disease was initially identified in two northwestern Missouri farmers who had been hospitalized for fever, leukopenia , and thrombocytopenia. Those last two symptoms severely effect the blood, where lukopenia is a noticeable drop in white blood cell count, and thrombocytopenia is an abnormally low platelet count in the blood stream -- effectively inhibiting the body's ability to clot a bleeding wound.
However, in this latest report, the CDC has revealed that during 2012 and 2013, health officials identified six other cases of the virus, most reported as infections resulting from a tick bite.
With Winter ending, the CDC is asking that healthcare providers consider testing patients for Heartland virus who exhibit unexplained fever, leukopenia, and thrombocytopenia and who have tested negative for other infections that could explain these symptoms.
According to the CDC, Heartland virus is still relatively new, and there are no cures of vaccinations for the virus as of yet.
Instead, the federal health organization is asking that people be extra cautious in the approaching warm seasons by "using insect repellant, wearing long sleeves and pants, avoiding wooded areas, and performing tick checks after spending time outdoors."
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report was published by the CDC on March 28.
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