Bourbon Virus

Researchers have identified the cause of a Kansas farmer’s unusual death this summer as Bourbon virus.

Thought to be transmitted by ticks, the virus “was fast-moving and severe, causing lung and kidney failure, and shock,” The New York Times reported, killing the previously healthy man after only 10 days in the hospital.

Together, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and University of Kansas Hospital researchers identified the virus as a thogotovirus, part of a larger type of viruses called orthomyxoviruses.

Bourbon virus, named after Bourbon County, Kansas, where the only known patient lived, and was soon killed by it, is similar to viruses seen previously in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.

Operating procedures with a never before seen virus can be very frustrating, because the lack of understanding of the sickness left several queries nonreciprocal for each the patient’s family and therefore the researchers. “We do not know the total spectrum of this malady as a result of it is the initial case. As an example, nobody is aware of whether or not or not the malady is sometimes deadly or if there might be a lot of delicate cases where future patients may recover.

Bourbon Virus Symptoms.

Symptoms embrace fever, loss of appetence, muscle aches and a general feeling of discomfort. however whereas similar tick-borne sicknesses usually necessitate measure treated with antibiotics, this sickness is transmitted by a pandemic, and thus will not answer the medication. Indeed, the Kansas patient failed to answer older therapies when testing negative for typical tick-borne diseases at the University of Kansas Hospital, the Daily News rumored.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the U.S., with over 27,000 confirmed cases in 2013, the most recent year from which data is available. Cold weather typically keeps ticks and disease-transmitting insects at bay, but from roughly April to September be sure to protect yourself by wearing long clothes and insect repellent when you could be exposed, and to do a thorough tick check after returning home.

The Study of Viruses

There are millions of viruses on our planet. Only a few thousand have been deeply studied, since they were causing great medical problems. Viruses are notoriously difficult to study, and thus only the ‘important’ ones get the research money.

University of Kansas Research Center Video on the Bourbon Virus.

Warning, this is technical, if you are not a biology major.