An older person who lives in rural Jackson County has become the third individual to test positive for the tick-borne Heartland virus in Illinois since 2018.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a press release on Aug. 23 that the older individual had “recently” tested positive for the virus, for which there is currently no preventative vaccine or treatment.
The latest case marks the third time an individual has been diagnosed with the virus in Illinois after two cases were reported in 2018 in Kankakee County and Williamson County.
Over 50 cases of the virus have, however, been reported in the Midwest and Southern United States since 2009, when the virus was first identified after two Missouri farmers who had been bitten by ticks were hospitalized with high fevers, low counts of white blood cells and platelets, muscle pains, and other symptoms….