NBC Local News The first locally acquired case of an emerging tick-borne disease has been reported in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said this is the first locally acquired human case of Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis in Connecticut and it’s also the first report of the disease in the northeast.
Dr. Peter Krause, a Yale senior research scientist, said there is a single case that they know of.
The disease, which is transmitted by the Gulf Coast tick, is similar to Rocky Mountain spotted fever with milder symptoms, according to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
“Rising global temperatures, ecological changes, reforestation, and increases in commerce and travel are important underlying factors influencing the rate and extent of range expansion of ticks and associated pathogens. It is anticipated that warming temperatures related to climate change may lead to the continued range expansion and abundance of several tick species, increasing their importance as emerging threats to humans, domesticated animals, and wildlife,” Dr. Goudarz Molaei, a research scientist and medical entomologist who also directs the CAES Passive Tick and Tick-Borne Disease Surveillance Program, said in a statement.