The Utah Department of Health and Human Services told KPCW Monday someone in the Snyderville Basin area has tested positive for Colorado Tick Fever.
CTF’s symptoms are generally flu-like and rarely become life-threatening, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services has not confirmed the person’s condition.
The positive human case is what led the state to do tick drags at the Swaner Preserve and EcoCenter in recent weeks.
Of the six groups of ticks tested, five had at least one specimen test positive for Colorado Tick Fever.
The Rocky Mountain Wood tick was the only tick state epidemiologists found at Swaner, and therefore the only type tested.
The state initially only tested them for CTF because of the positive human case. Health officials said they may follow up with tests for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, another disease carried by the Rocky Mountain Wood tick.
The state did not test for Lyme disease because the Rocky Mountain Wood tick cannot transmit it.
The DHHS’s 2022 Annual Tick Surveillance Report found “no evidence of tickborne Lyme disease transmission in the state.”
According to the CDC, the only Utah tick that can carry Lyme disease, the Western Blacklegged tick, is usually found in central and western Utah.
Click here for more information on how to keep tick-free. This is a developing story.
