ATLANTA — The Heartland virus, a potentially fatal tick-borne virus first identified in Missouri in 2009, has taken root in Georgia, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection reported Wednesday.
The virus isn’t passed by breathing, but by blood. The Georgia discovery came when Emory University researchers found Heartland virus here in lone star ticks, a type of small tick that is prevalent in the state.
Scientists already knew that one Georgia person had been infected, but they couldn’t be sure where. They also knew the Heartland virus is harbored by lone star ticks. The study’s findings make it likely that the Georgia patient caught the virus from a tick bite in Georgia, said Emory University Associate Professor Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, whose lab worked on the research.
