Scientists have identified a new, as yet undiagnosed, disease transmitted by ticks that may pose a serious health risk, reports the Lancet Infectious Disease journal.
Researchers from China and the United States have discovered a new disease caused by the bacterium Anaplasma capra, which manifests itself as fever, headache, fatigue, dizziness and muscle pain, and is probably transmitted by taiga ticks (Ixodes persulcatus), common in Eastern Europe and Asia, including Our Country, Japan and China.
Anaplasma capra infection was detected in 28% of out of 477 patients in Northeast China who were bitten by a tick in 2014.
It is not known how widespread this species of bacteria is, but it has been found that it is most common in goats and can attack other animals, including humans.
There is also no test that can quickly detect an infection in the blood. However, it has been established that the infection is amenable to treatment with antibiotics (e.g., doxycycline).
It is an entirely new species of bacteria that has never been observed in humans before. We still have to learn a lot about it, but it is very possible that it causes infections in people over a very large area, comments Dr.J. Stephen Dumler, a research team member of scientists from the University of Maryland in the USA and the Beijing Institue of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Mudanjiang Forestry Central Hospital, and Shanghai Jiaotong University in China. (PAP)
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