Michael Larkin, a man from Long Island, has been diagnosed with an extremely rare and potentially fatal disease. While he was landscaping in his Brookhaven Town backyard, the 67-year-old spotted two lone star ticks on his leg.
While Larkin initially tested negative for Lyme disease, a year-long antibody study led by Dr. Luis Marcos confirmed that he had the extremely rare Bourbon virus infection, the first case in New York State.
Larkin told CBS News, “I just keep feeling worse and worse,” after mentioning that he was developing chronic and intense headaches. “Three or four hours later, I would hit rock bottom and can’t get off the couch. I demanded my wife take me to the hospital, because that’s how bad it was. I couldn’t stand it anymore.”
The rare virus, Bourbon, is believed to be spread by infected ticks, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Symptoms may include fever, fatigue, rash, headache, body aches, nausea, and vomiting. “Now we know the virus can be lethal, and honestly this may be the very very tip of the iceberg.”
The virus was first discovered in 2014 and named for Bourbon County, Kan, where the first case was identified, per the CDC. There is a lack of commercial tests to confirm the infection because of the lack of confirmed cases of Bourbon.
Marcos also emphasized that a recent study showed that the virus could be easily misdiagnosed as Lyme disease, highlighting “the need for expanded viral surveillance, clinical testing and assay development to improve clinical decision-making and inform tick-borne disease epidemiology and vector management.”
“There are a lot of lone star ticks in New York and in the Northeast, we have dense populations, and when someone is infected with Bourbon virus symptoms they are similar to other tick-born infections, because of this there is likley more cases that are not being diagnosed.
According to the CDC, there is currently “no vaccines or medicines are available to prevent or treat Bourbon virus disease.
