28-04-2025
New strain of bacteria in tick discovered at UMass Amherst
AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – A lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discovered a new strain of bacteria in a tick last week.
Researchers found that this has the potential to infect people with Spotted Fever, and now, with the warmer weather and more people outside, officials are sounding the alarm. This finding came from testing in someone's backyard, but now researchers are hoping this was an exception and not the expectation.
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Spotted Fever Rickettsioses is the main danger of bacteria found in this new strain of Rickettsia. The UMass lab working on Project ITCH is a part of the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases. 22News spoke with microbiologist Stephen Rich, who told us how they came upon the discovery.
'As part of that study, we actually tested for a rare set of pathogens that we usually don't see, and we discovered something that's altogether different that we've never seen before,' Rich said.
The study tracks how tick control across the U.S. is working in different areas. These samples are collected from across the country and sent here to UMass Amherst, but this new strain was actually collected in New England by the University of Maine.
'In California, that was found in people, so it can get into people and it can be deadly,' Rich said. 'In this case, we saw it in rabbit ticks, which don't feed on people, and so we think we're catching it very early here in the east.'
This new genotype of Rickettsia, species ME2023, could infect people with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The rare disease can be fatal without treatment. While there is no way to stop the spread of this bacteria among ticks, researchers will be keeping an eye on this new data.
'The main thing is that we want to make sure that it's in this rare tick that doesn't feed on people,' Rich said. 'What we want to make sure is that it doesn't spill over into other ticks that do feed on people.'
Luckily, there is no current risk to the public, but the CDC says you should wear tick repellent and long sleeves while walking through wooded areas.
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