Chinese researchers have identified a previously unknown tick-borne virus that can cause a flu-like illness, fatigue, stomach trouble, low platelets, and signs of liver injury, according to a report published this week.

According to the report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus has been named Asian Longhorned Tick Nairovirus, or ALTNV. It is in the orthonairovirus family.

Scientists at the State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity in Beijing found it while trying to explain why more than 30 percent of patients with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, test negative for Dabie bandavirus, the known cause of that disease.

Using hospital surveillance of febrile patients with tick exposure, they ran metatranscriptomic sequencing and isolated the new virus from patients who were negative for Dabie bandavirus.

Among 3,163 tick-bitten febrile patients, 10.4 percent were positive for ALTNV by RNA or IgM.

Among patients negative for Dabie bandavirus, 15.1 percent were positive for ALTNV.

In 56 people infected with ALTNV alone, their symptoms were mostly flu-like.

Fatal outcomes involved co-infection with Dabie bandavirus, which causes SFTS and can be far more dangerous.

Among patients who had both viruses, seven, or 18.4 percent, died during the study period.

Co-infected patients were also more likely to have respiratory and kidney complications.

The authors said the two viruses circulate in the same regions and share the same tick, which makes mixed-up diagnoses a real problem in SFTS-endemic parts of China.

The authors of the report explained:

These findings provide evidence of ALTNV as a recently identified emerging tickborne orthonairovirus associated with human febrile illness. Coinfection with DBV appears to exacerbate disease severity. The cocirculation of ALTNV and DBV in the same areas, coupled with their shared tick vector, underscores the need for improved differential diagnosis between infections with these viruses in regions where SFTS is endemic.”

The tick has not been reported in the US.

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