The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms on Friday that a new virus appears to have caused the death of a man in Kansas in the spring 2014.
The virus, called Bourbon virus, is likely spread by ticks and insect bites.
CDC said the 50-year-old man was healthy before he fell ill about two days after he was bitten by ticks while working on his property.
The man’s symptoms included fever, fatigue, rash, headache, other body aches, nausea and vomiting.
The man eventually became so sick that doctors transferred him to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City. He was tested for a variety of well-known viruses but the results came back negative. His blood sample was then sent to the CDC for advanced testing, which determined a new virus had been discovered.
Bourbon virus, which was named after the county where the man lived, belongs to a group calledthogotoviruses.
Thogotoviruses usually make people sick by causing meningitis, a brain inflammation called encephalitis. They are not known for causing problems with blood cells.
But early blood tests of the Kansas man showed that he had a decline in his white blood cells, which fight infections, as well as his platelets, which help the blood to clot.
He died 11 days after falling ill.
CDC said this is the first time a thogotovirus has been known to make an American ill. Seven cases have been reported in Africa, Europe and Asia.
The CDC recommends people protect themselves by tick bites by using insect repellents, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, avoiding bushy and wooded areas and checking for ticks after spending time outdoors.
J. Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC, said it is possible that Bourbon virus has been around for years but hasn’t been noticed because it never made anyone this sick before. He said it is also possible that the virus normally causes illness too mild for people to go to the doctor, so that people assume they have a stomach bug.