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Tick-borne Heartland virus transmitted in Georgia, study finds

Very little is known of the disease but scientists hope the discovery raises awareness of its early existence.
Credit: AP
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a female Lone Star tick, which - despite its Texas-sounding name, is found mainly in the Southeast. Researchers have found that the bloodsuckers carry a sugar which humans don’t have, and can make those bitten have an allergic reaction to red meat. (James Gathany/CDC via AP)

ATLANTA — Ticks carrying a new and rare virus that has infected dozens of people across several states have now been discovered in Georgia, a recent study found. 

Researchers at Emory University discovered test samples of lone star ticks had transmitted the Heartland virus. Very little is known of the disease, but scientists hope the discovery raises awareness of its early existence.

“Heartland is an emerging infectious disease that is not well understood,” says Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, associate professor in Emory’s Department of Environmental Sciences and senior author of the study. “We’re trying to get ahead of this virus by learning everything that we can about it before it potentially becomes a bigger problem.”

Heartland virus was first identified in Missouri in 2009 and has since spread to six states, including Georgia. As of January 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports just 50 cases of the disease. In the most severe cases, people have ended up in the hospital, but many recover with care. 

Heartland virus symptoms

The CDC says when a person contracts the disease from a tick bite, they can experience the following symptoms:

  • Fever
  • Fatigue
  • Decreased appetite
  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Diarrhea
  • Muscle or joint pain

The health agency also adds that some people have lower than normal counts of white blood cells, which help fight infection, and lower than normal counts of platelets, which help blood clots. 

Those symptoms typically take two weeks to develop, according to health experts. 

Symptoms from the virus have also been found to be similar to other tick-borne diseases like ehrlichiosis and tularemia

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