Florida teen is first known human to contract virus usually found in animals

By Rachael Rettner Jun 22, 2018

There's a new mosquito-borne virus to be wary of — 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 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 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 Zika virus — after all, his visit occurred in the midst of the Zika epidemic in Florida — 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 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..........To Read More....