Doctors Discover Deadly Disease Carried by Ticks : Science File / An exploration of issues and trends affecting science, medicine and the environment.
<i> From Times staff and wire reports</i>
Physicians have discovered a potentially fatal illness carried by ticks. The disease, called human granulocytic erlichosis or HGE, is characterized by high fever, headache and muscle pains. It is much less common than Lyme disease, which is also carried by ticks, but Lyme disease is rarely fatal. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 386 patients from Minnesota to Texas have contracted the disease since 1986, but the numbers could be far higher because surveillance is limited. There have been at least 60 cases reported this year and at least four people have died.
