Alva Review-Courier -

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — On the same day that state health officials canvassed his Spotsylvania County yard for ticks, Quintin Beltran had all the toes on his left foot removed as a result of damage caused by a tick bite.

Beltran, 60, was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain spotted fever this spring, a few weeks after he found what he described as an American dog tick on his inner thigh. Initially, his symptoms — vomiting, fever and chills — mimicked the flu, but as his condition worsened, his kidneys and liver started to fail.

Circulation to the small vessels that line his organs, brain and extre...