​Infectious Diseases and Microbiology - Colorado Tick Fever (Colorado Tick Fever Virus)

​Infectious Diseases and Microbiology - Colorado Tick Fever (Colorado Tick Fever Virus) 
Colorado Tick Fever
The Colorado tick fever virus (CTFV) is the cause of Colorado tick fever, a viral zoonosis. The bite of an infected Dermacentor andersoni wood tick (CTFV) spreads the arbovirus. All across the western United States, CTFV is endemic. The natural host of CTFV is small animals, such as chipmunks and squirrels.

The symptoms of CTF, an acute febrile sickness, include fever, chills, myalgia, headache, malaise, stomach discomfort, and vomiting. About half of the affected patients have a "saddle-back" fever pattern, which consists of a 2-3 day fever episode followed by an afebrile period and a subsequent fever return. Hemorrhagic fever, often known as encephalitis, is a consequence of CTFV infection, particularly in young patients.
Deaths are not common.
 
CTFV replicates in hematopoietic cells, including erythrocyte precursors, after entering the skin through a tick bite. Frequent observations of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia are likely due to direct cytopathic effects of the virus on stem cells. When mature erythrocytes are shielded from immune clearance, the virus endures. Increased neutralizing antibody levels and resistance to reinfection are linked to recovery.

Blood smears can be directly immunostaining to identify CTFV antigens on the erythrocyte surface. The diagnosis of CTFV infection can be made serologically using enzyme immunoassay to look for virus-specific IgM or IgG.
For CTFV, there isn't a particular treatment or vaccination. In tick-endemic areas, protection from ticks is the most effective control measure.