Scientists discover a very common type of dog tick may spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a serious, often-fatal illness that reached historic highs in the US last year.

Two types of ticks were already known to transmit the disease, but these are not as common and are mostly carried by rodents and dogs living in wild or rural areas. This is the first time that a tick found in house pets is pegged as the culprit

Officials announced Tuesday, a pet hamster blamed for spreading a virus that killed three transplant patients in April, was traced to an Ohio-based distribution center, which supplies hamsters to pet stores across the East Coast.

State and federal investigators quarantined the distribution center Monday, and plan on testing the animals for the virus, in hopes of tracing its origin

Christina Ficara - All Headline News Staff Reporter

A Rhode Island woman is thought to have caught the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) from her hamster shortly before her unrelated death last month