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Source: http://www.oleantimesherald.com/tic...cle_18010e06-c84f-5709-af57-74ce77be171a.html
Tick-borne bacteria that causes symptoms worse than Lyme disease found in CNY
By GLENN COIN Syracuse Media Group (TNS) 11 hrs ago
SYRACUSE — A new tick-borne disease that is potentially worse than Lyme disease — and harder to diagnose — has been found in patients in Central New York.
Upstate Medical University has confirmed at least two patients who have been exposed to the disease, known informally as Borrelia miyamotoi disease, or BMD. The illness, related to Lyme disease and carried by the same species of tick, causes recurring fevers of up to 104 degrees, severe headaches and other flu-like symptoms , said Dr. Kris Paolino, an infectious disease specialist at Upstate.
“We haven’t seen a ton of cases yet,” Paolino said. “The risk now is low, but I think the potential is extreme.”
It’s such a new illness that scientists don’t know much about it’s how transmitted, and few doctors are even aware of the disease to test for it, said Brian Leydet, a professor and tick expert at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse.
“That’s what’s terrifying about it: knowing so little about it, and it’s in our back yard,” Leydet said.
The bacterium was discovered in Japan in the 1990s, but the disease it causes wasn’t found in humans until 2011, in Russia. The first human cases in the Northeast were discovered only in 2013, Leydet said.
Tick-borne bacteria that causes symptoms worse than Lyme disease found in CNY
By GLENN COIN Syracuse Media Group (TNS) 11 hrs ago
SYRACUSE — A new tick-borne disease that is potentially worse than Lyme disease — and harder to diagnose — has been found in patients in Central New York.
Upstate Medical University has confirmed at least two patients who have been exposed to the disease, known informally as Borrelia miyamotoi disease, or BMD. The illness, related to Lyme disease and carried by the same species of tick, causes recurring fevers of up to 104 degrees, severe headaches and other flu-like symptoms , said Dr. Kris Paolino, an infectious disease specialist at Upstate.
“We haven’t seen a ton of cases yet,” Paolino said. “The risk now is low, but I think the potential is extreme.”
It’s such a new illness that scientists don’t know much about it’s how transmitted, and few doctors are even aware of the disease to test for it, said Brian Leydet, a professor and tick expert at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse.
“That’s what’s terrifying about it: knowing so little about it, and it’s in our back yard,” Leydet said.
The bacterium was discovered in Japan in the 1990s, but the disease it causes wasn’t found in humans until 2011, in Russia. The first human cases in the Northeast were discovered only in 2013, Leydet said.