Swedish researchers discover new tick-borne disease

A never-before-identified tick-borne disease has been described for the first time by researchers based at Sweden's University of Gothenburg.

The university's Sahlgrenska Academy made the discovery after assessing the case of 77-year-old man who had been stricken by an unexplained recurrent fever characterised by acute diarrhoea, loss of consciousness and deep vein thrombosis.

Repeated efforts to find a microbial cause for the persistent illness proved ineffective until bacterial DNA analysis of a blood sample was performed, finding genetic material from the bacterium Neoehrlichia mikurensis.

Since this discovery, a further eight cases of the new illness have been diagnosed, with the disease most likely to cause harm to those with impaired immune systems.

Dr Christine Wenneras of the department of infectious diseases and the department of haematology and coagulation at the Sahlgrenska Academy said: "This can be life-threatening. Fortunately, the infection can be treated successfully with antibiotics."

According to Lyme Disease Action, tick bites in Britain can cause a number of different diseases, including Lyme borreliosis, babesiosis and ehrlichiosis.