File photo of a doctor with a stethoscope
The first locally acquired case of an emerging tick-borne disease has been reported in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said this is the first locally acquired human case of Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis in Connecticut and it’s also the first report of the disease in the northeast.
Dr. Peter Krause, a Yale senior research scientist, said there is a single case that they know of.
The disease, which is transmitted by the Gulf Coast tick, is similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever with milder symptoms, according to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
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“Rising global temperatures, ecological changes, reforestation, and increases in commerce and travel are important underlying factors influencing the rate and extent of range expansion of ticks and associated pathogens. It is anticipated that warming temperatures related to climate change may lead to the continued range expansion and abundance of several tick species, increasing their importance as emerging threats to humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife,” Dr. Goudarz Molaei, a research scientist and medical entomologist who also directs the CAES Passive Tick and Tick-Borne Disease Surveillance Program, said in a statement.
Krause said the ticks are moving north in a sense, where they can survive.
"They’re ticks that normally wouldn’t be found here that are moving up and they are bringing diseases with them. They can transmit new disease that we haven’t seen before," he said.
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Signs and symptoms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the first sign of many spotted fevers, including Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis, is generally a dark scab at the site of the tick or mite bite, known as an eschar.
Eschars usually develop a few days to a week following the bite of an infected tick or mite. Several days after it develops, patients can develop other signs and symptoms.
Signs and symptoms can include:
- Fever
- Headache
- Rash
- Muscle aches
