Scientists identify new tick-borne virus after testing thousands of patients in China

BEIJING - Scientists in China have identified a previously unknown tick-borne virus that can cause flu-like illness, fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms, Fox News reported, citing a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers named the pathogen Asian longhorned tick nairovirus, or ALTNV. It belongs to the orthonairovirus group. Lab work also linked the virus to thrombocytopenia, a drop in blood platelets, and to laboratory signs of liver-cell injury or inflammation.

Teams at the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity in Beijing found ALTNV in 10.4% of 3,163 patients who had been bitten by ticks. Since 2009, Chinese investigators have tracked unusual illnesses that include severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Many earlier cases tied to Dabie bandavirus, but that virus was not always the main finding when samples were rechecked.

Patients infected with both ALTNV and Dabie bandavirus were more likely to have respiratory and kidney complications. Seven of those co-infected patients, about 18.4%, died during the study period. The authors said ALTNV alone was not linked to severe bleeding or deaths in the reported analysis. Fatal outcomes clustered in people who also carried Dabie bandavirus.

Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Children's Hospital in New York, told Fox News Digital that ticks carry many viruses and that labs are getting better at finding them when a first test is negative. Illness from ALTNV can look like the flu at first, with fever, muscle aches, fatigue and sometimes breathing symptoms. Supportive care is the usual approach because effective antivirals for many tick viruses remain limited. Antibiotics do not treat viruses.

Nachman advised long pants tucked into socks, tick repellent on adult skin or on children's clothing, and prompt removal after hiking or outdoor time. The longer a tick stays attached, the higher the chance it passes infection. The Asian longhorned tick is not yet established as a U.S. driver of this specific virus in the report Fox News summarized, but American ticks already spread other diseases. People with immune compromise or older age often fare worse with the same pathogen than healthy adults.

Anyone with fever, unexplained bruising or severe fatigue after a known tick bite should contact a clinician and mention the exposure. Differential diagnosis matters in regions where several tick viruses circulate together.