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Keystone Virus

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Category: Coronavirus Pandemic: State Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Florida
Forum Description: (General discussion & latest news)
URL: http://www.avianflutalk.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=37463
Printed Date: March 28 2024 at 2:53am


Topic: Keystone Virus
Posted By: Technophobe
Subject: Keystone Virus
Date Posted: June 21 2018 at 8:41am

Florida teen first human case of another mosquito-borne virus

June 20, 2018

(HealthDay)β€”The first confirmed human case of Keystone virus has been diagnosed in a Florida teen, but it's likely that infection with the mosquito-borne disease is common among state residents, researchers report.

The https://medicalxpress.com/tags/virus/" rel="nofollow - virus can cause a rash and mild fever. It's named after the location in the Tampa Bay area where it was first identified in 1964. It has been found in animals along U.S. coastal regions from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay.

University of Florida researchers describe the case of a teenage boy who went to an urgent care clinic in North Central Florida with a rash and fever in August 2016, during the Zika virus epidemic in Florida and the Caribbean.

Tests on the patient were negative for Zika or related viruses, but did reveal Keystone virus https://medicalxpress.com/tags/infection/" rel="nofollow - infection , according to the study published June 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

"Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," said corresponding author Dr. J. Glenn Morris. He is director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute.

"It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it," he added in a university news release.

According to the study's first author, John Lednicky, "This virus is part of a group commonly known as the California serogroup of viruses." Lednicky is a research professor in the department of environmental and global health and a member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute.

"These viruses are known to cause encephalitis [inflammation of the brain] in several species, including humans," he noted.

The teenager in Florida did not have symptoms of encephalitis. But the study authors reported that the virus grew well in mouse brain cell cultures, which suggests that Keystone can infect brain cells and may pose a risk for brain infections.

While this is the first documented case of Keystone infection in a human, it's long been suspected that such infections occur.

A 1972 article in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reported Keystone virus antibodies in 19 to 21 percent of the people tested in the Tampa Bay region.

The likelihood that Keystone virus is a common but previously unidentified infection among people in North Florida highlights the need for more research into vector-borne diseases in the United States, Morris said.

"All sorts of viruses are being transmitted by mosquitoes, yet we don't fully understand the rate of https://medicalxpress.com/tags/disease/" rel="nofollow - disease transmission," he added. "Additional research into the spread of vector-borne diseases will help us shine a light on the pathogens that are of greatest concern to both human and animal health."


Source:   https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-florida-teen-human-case-mosquito-borne.html" rel="nofollow - https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-florida-teen-human-case-mosquito-borne.html



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His lips or pen are moving.



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Posted By: Technophobe
Date Posted: June 22 2018 at 10:30am

The 'Keystone Virus' Had Never Been Seen in People, Until a Florida Teen Caught It

By |

There's a new mosquito-borne virus to be wary of β€” or at least new to those of us who don't study such viruses.

A teenager in Florida is the first person known to be infected with a virus called Keystone virus, which is spread by  https://www.livescience.com/45404-mosquito-bites.html" rel="nofollow - mosquitoes .

The teen visited an urgent care clinic in North Central Florida in August 2016, after he developed a fever and rash, according to a  https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/cid/ciy485/5035220?redirectedFrom=fulltext" rel="nofollow - new report  of his case, published June 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Doctors initially thought the teen might have an infection caused by the https://www.livescience.com/53510-zika-virus.html" rel="nofollow - Zika virus  β€” after all, his visit occurred in the midst of the Zika epidemic in Florida β€” but tests for that virus came back negative.

But unexpectedly, researchers from the University of Florida (UF) found the Keystone virus in samples from the patient.

The Keystone virus was first discovered in 1964 in the Tampa Bay area, and has been previously found in animals, according to a  https://ufhealth.org/news/2018/virus-found-florida-resident-may-be-widespread-throughout-southeast" rel="nofollow - statement  from the University of Florida. Doctors had suspected the virus might infect people, but they hadn't found the virus in humans, until now. [ https://www.livescience.com/62050-5-weird-effects-of-bug-bites.html" rel="nofollow - 5 Weird Effects of Bug Bites ]

The researchers say there could be other, undiagnosed cases of this virus.

"Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," Dr. J. Glenn Morris, director of the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute, said in the statement. "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it."

Although the teen's symptoms were mild, it's possible that the Keystone virus may cause more severe symptoms in people, including brain infections. Two relatives of the Keystone virus, the Jamestown Canyon virus and La Crosse encephalitis virus, can cause inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis.

The researchers say the discovery of the Keystone virus in a person highlights the need for more research into the prevalence of mosquito-borne diseases in the U.S.

"All sorts of viruses are being transmitted by mosquitoes, yet we don't fully understand the rate of disease transmission," Morris said.

Source:   https://www.livescience.com/62889-keystone-virus-mosquitoes-florida.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.livescience.com/62889-keystone-virus-mosquitoes-florida.html



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How do you tell if a politician is lying?
His lips or pen are moving.



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