For the primary time within the U.S., a medical case of tickborne illness brought on by an unexpected species of bacteria has been reported, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The bacteria called Borrelia lonestari is a distant relative of the bacteria chargeable for Lyme disease. The pathogen was found chargeable for triggering tickborne relapsing fever, which had never been reported before, as per IFLScience. 

The disease was discovered in a 75-year-old man from Alabama, in response to the CDC-run journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) is a rare infection, which causes symptoms resembling recurring fever, headaches, muscle and joint aches, and nausea. Mostly reported within the western U.S., the infection is normally related to sleeping in rustic mountain cabins, that are typically infested by rats.

Nonetheless, TBRF is thought to be brought on by Borrelia bacteria, and never B. lonestari, until now. It spreads to humans through the bite of infected “soft ticks.”

In 2019, the 75-year-old man, who was studied by the CDC, reported experiencing relapsing fevers, chills, sweating, headache, dizziness, and fatigue – all of which lingered for a couple of month. The Alabama resident admitted to having removed a tick several weeks before the symptom onset. He was successfully treated with antibiotics on the time.

Initially, doctors found spirochetes in his blood. These are spiral-shaped bacteria often spread by ticks. But after months of investigation, they concluded that the explanation for TBRF was B. lonestari. 

“This case report sheds light onto the potential of B. lonestari to cause human illness and contributes to the body of information on TBRF,” study writer Dr. Laia J. Vazquez Guillamet told Infectious Disease Special Edition. “It’s the second tick-borne Borrelia species transmitted by hard ticks which were identified as a causative agent of relapsing fever, being the previous ones [were] transmitted by soft ticks.”

It ought to be noted that the patient was taking immunosuppressant drugs for lymphoma on the time. This implies whether he developed TBRF on account of B. lonestari’s pathogenicity or the medication increased his susceptibility to infection, can’t be determined. 

“In future years, increased awareness of the pathogenic potential of  B. lonestari and the usage of molecular diagnostics may give us an approximation in regards to the real burden of human illness brought on by this bacterium,” Vazquez Guillamet added.

Speaking of bacteria, the CDC recently warned of an in depth increase within the drug-resistant Shigella bacteria chargeable for watery and possibly bloody diarrhea. “Given these potentially serious public health concerns, CDC asks healthcare professionals to be vigilant about suspecting and reporting cases of XDR Shigella infection to their local or state health department and educating patients and communities at increased risk about prevention and transmission,” the CDC stated in its advisory.