Add the Bourbon virus to the growing list of tick-borne infections.
After the death of a man in Bourbon County, Kansas, last summer, doctors scrambled to identify the virus that killed him. It has never been seen before in the United States.
It is apparently related to viruses found in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe and is also somewhat similar to the heartland virus identified in Missouri several years ago. That one is also transmitted by ticks.
Symptoms of infection include fatigue, fever and loss of appetite. Bourbon virus can also cause muscle aches and pain and elevations in liver enzymes.
Unlike most other diseases transmitted by ticks, the new infection cannot be treated with antibiotics. And, as the Kansas fatality demonstrates, it can be lethal.
