another reason to hate ticks new disease called heartland

[littlewolf]

A rare viral infection has emerged in the central U.S. The virus causes fever, a drop in the blood’s infection-fighting white cells and a reduction in the blood’s clot-making platelets.
The virus is called Heartland disease, its name honors the Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, Mo., where the first men infected with the virus were treated. The disease was first noticed in June 2009, when two Missouri farmers came to the hospital with severe flu-like symptoms.
Some early cases were reported by the Digital Journal earlier in the year. New reports indicated that cases have risen, and there have now been eight confirmed cases.

snip

The virus causes headaches, nausea, high fevers, diarrhea and gut-distress. Blood tests indicate low white-blood-cell counts. The disease appears to be spread by ticks. Through field studies conducted in 2012, researchers identified Lone Star ticks as the way by which the virus was spread, with evidence pointing to their larval blood meal as the time of infection.

snip

However, much else about the disease remains a mystery. Daniel Pastula of the CDC in Fort Collins told Science Now: "No vaccine or medication is available to prevent or treat Heartland virus disease."


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/life/health/new-heartland-disease-emerges-in-usa-midwest/article/384083#ixzz32AkXaHIn

[Lucinda]

1. Thankie for the info!

We live next to a large stand of woods, so we see plenty of ticks where we live.

[bluedigger]

2. I hate ticks.

How come we can kill all the bees without even trying, but fucking ticks? Noooo!

[shenmue]

4. Yeah

Eeeeew.

[WhiteTara]

7. bees live on flowers ticks live on anticipation

and blood. But heartland is more grassland than forest.

I do wonder what those ticks look like though. We have lots of grass ticks this year. I want chickens and guiennies to eat them all. But first, I must have a chicken coop. I think I'll go mow the lawn and keep them at bay.

[csziggy]

8. Lone Star Ticks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amblyomma_americanum_tick.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyomma_americanum


http://www.cdc.gov/stari/disease/

[WhiteTara]

9. Our grass is filled with tiny little seed ticks. They

are a rather ugly looking family.

[csziggy]

10. Yeah, I found one on me yesterday

I"m not sure which I hate more - ticks or cockroaches.

[jwirr]

3. From the look of it there are going to be a lot of ticks this year.

[bettyellen]

5. my cat has a chronic disease from a tick borne infection that used to be rare

Ticks suck.

[Lochloosa]

6. Neat!

[A Little Weird]

11. Lol - I haven't seen him in awhile

But seriously, this sounds very unpleasant. Lone star ticks have recently moved into KY too. Something else to worry about.