Overview
- New York health outlets reported Thursday that specialized laboratory testing confirmed the state's first human Bourbon virus infection from a Suffolk County exposure in 2021.
- The patient, 67-year-old Michael Larkin, was bitten by lone star ticks while working outdoors, was hospitalized for five days, and later recovered after the infection was identified.
- There is no vaccine, no widely available commercial diagnostic test, and no specific antiviral treatment for Bourbon virus, so care is limited to supportive measures such as fluids and fever or pain control.
- Bourbon virus causes flu-like symptoms that overlap with other tick illnesses, which led to an initial misdiagnosis and antibiotic treatment that did not stop the virus in this case.
- Clinicians cite growing white-tailed deer populations, milder winters, and expanding lone star tick range as drivers of higher exposure, and they are urging better surveillance, testing access, physician guidance, and public tick-avoidance measures.