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Article: Prime suspect. (ticks may carry the bacteria Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis)
- Article from:
- Outdoor Life
- Article date:
- December 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Bonnier Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THERE'S NOTHING NEW ABOUT TICKS WREAKING havoc on outdoorsmen, but now it appears that the little bloodsuckers have yet another new--and deadly--disease to hand out. Evidence points to ticks as carriers of Granulocytic Ebrlichiosis, a potentially fatal bacterial infection marked by flu-like symptoms.
Thus far the disease has been identified only in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but it has already taken the lives of two of the 27 people who have been diagnosed with the illness. Most of the victims had reported recent tick bites and the others had recently been in tick-infested areas. "The tick is the most suspicious factor," says Dr. Sheng-Min Chen, a lab researcher at ...