Keystone Virus Makes First Known Jump From Mosquitoes To Humans 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Alan Diaz/AP Alan Diaz/AP 
 
 Updated at 10:45 a.m. ET Friday 
 
 Just in time for the hot, humid, bug-bite-riddled summer: Researchers from the University of Florida have confirmed the first known case of a human infected with the mosquito-borne Keystone virus. 
 
 A 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida went to an urgent care clinic after coming down with a fever and a severe rash in August 2016, during the Zika outbreak in Florida and the Caribbean. 
 
 Doctors couldn't figure out what made him sick. They tested for Zika and various other pathogens but hit a series of dead ends. 
 
 "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, told NPR member station WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was." 
 
 Researchers published their findings earlier this month in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. 
 
 The virus was first found in the U.S. in 1964, when researchers isolated it from mosquitoes in Keystone, Fla. Since then, it "has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," according to a statement from University of Florida Health. 
 
 But until now, there hasn't been a way to test humans for the Keystone virus, which is carried by the Aedes atlanticus mosquito, a cousin to the Zika-spreading Aedes aegypti. 
 
 The virus can cause a rash and mild fever in humans. The teenager did not show signs of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain — but Keystone is part of a group of viruses "known to cause encephalitis in several species, including humans," said lead study author John Lednicky, a University of Florida research professor in the environmental and global health department of the College of Public Health and Health Professions. 
 
 Morris suspects many people might have the Keystone virus. 
 
 "Although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," he said in the statement. 
 
 "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it." ||||| A mosquito-borne illness originally found in the Tampa Bay area has been confirmed in a human for the first time, according to University of Florida researchers. 
 
 The Keystone virus, named after the northwestern Hillsborough County area where it was initially identified in 1964, has been found in animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 UF researchers have been sequencing the virus since August 2016, when a 16-year-old boy in North Central Florida showed up to a clinic with a rash and fever during the Zika virus epidemic in Florida and the Caribbean. The report was published June 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. 
 
 Because of concerns about Zika, laboratory samples were collected from the patient, but studies were negative for Zika or related viruses. 
 
 But the researchers found Keystone virus when they did viral cultures from the patient samples. Although the teenager did not report symptoms of encephalitis, lab studies indicate that Keystone virus can infect brain cells, and may pose a risk for brain infections. 
 
 Dr. Glenn Morris, director of the university's Emerging Pathogens Institute, said until now, there hasn't been a way to test for the virus. 
 
 "We couldn't identify what was going on,” Morris said. “We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was.” 
 
 Morris said biotech companies are already reaching out to the institute to develop commercial tests that can be used in clinics and hospitals. 
 
 Keystone is spread by aedes atlanticus, a common Florida mosquito and cousin to the mosquito, aedes aegypti, that spreads Zika. 
 
 It’s part of a group of viruses that are known to cause encephalitis - inflammation of the brain - in several species, including humans. Morris said they’re not absolutely certain that Keystone can also cause encephalitis. 
 
 Morris said although the virus has never previously been found in humans, the infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida. A 1972 article in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reported Keystone virus antibodies in 19 to 21 percent of the people tested in the Tampa Bay region. 
 
 “There’s a high likelihood that Keystone virus is continuing to circulate in Florida, as it has for at least 50 or 60 years, and as it may well have for hundreds of years,” Morrisa said. “This is one of our native Florida viruses.” 
 
 "It's likely there have continued to be a fair number of human infections. In most instances, it would appear to be asymptomatic or cause mild infection, fever and a rash." 
 
 Morris emphasized the need for additional research into the prevalence of vector-borne diseases in the United States, and stressed the importance of minimizing the risk of mosquito bites by using mosquito repellent. ||||| The University of Florida Health Science Center - the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast - is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, patient care and public service. 
 
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– A coastal virus that can cause a rash and mild fever has officially infected a person for the first time, NPR reports. Scientists say it took 18 months to figure out that a Florida teen who got sick during the Zika outbreak of 2016 actually had the Keystone virus, which is carried by mosquitos. "We couldn't identify what was going on," J. Glenn Morris, head of the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida, tells WUSF. "We screened this with all the standard approaches and it literally took a year and a half of sort of dogged laboratory work to figure out what this virus was." There wasn't even a test to detect Keystone virus in humans. The 16-year-old boy had a fever and a bad rash, but not the encephalitis (or brain inflammation) that a group of viruses including Keystone can cause in animals. First seen in America in 1964, Keystone is known to infect "animal populations along coastal regions stretching from Texas to the Chesapeake Bay," per a University of Florida Health statement. Scientists have long suspected there are human cases, but the new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases confirms it. "The infection may actually be fairly common in North Florida," says lead study author John Lednicky. "It's one of these instances where if you don't know to look for something, you don't find it."