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Rare, tick-borne Powassan virus worries some experts about possible spread
May 1, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Linda Carroll
TODAY
As if Lyme disease isn't troubling enough, a more serious tick-borne disease may be emerging, experts warn.
Powassan virus, which is a far rarer and more deadly pathogen than the bacterium that produces Lyme, is also transmitted by the deer tick. The virus can cause inflammation in the brain, which leads to death or permanent disability in 60 percent of cases.
So far, 75 instances of severe disease have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just last week a 5-month-old baby from Connecticut was diagnosed after developing neurological symptoms.
“The bottom line is that we should be very scared of it because nobody is safe from it,” said Dr. Jennifer Lyons, chief of the division of neurological and inflammatory diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School. “And it could be that it is emerging and will explode over the next few years.”
Especially worrying, the virus can be transmitted from the tick in as little as 15 minutes, Lyons said. In comparison, the Lyme bacterium needs 24 hours to pass from a tick to a human.
The reported cases have mostly come from the Northeast and the northern part of the Midwest. List of cases through 2015, per the CDC:
Few have heard of Powassan virus, but it’s been around for a long time. The first reported case was in the 1950s in Ontario, said Durland Fish, a professor emeritus of epidemiology and microbiology at the Yale School of Public Health. It wasn't considered a big problem then because the virus had been transmitted by a tick that rarely bit human beings, Fish said.
But that changed when it appeared in deer ticks.
“It’s no longer a disease that’s just caused by a tick species that hardly ever bites people,” Fish said. “Now it’s being transmitted by a tick species that bites people readily. And that’s not good. This is a disease that there is no treatment for and that you can die from.”
Complete article: A tick-borne disease worse than Lyme may be spreading, experts say
May 1, 2017 at 10:24 AM
Linda Carroll
TODAY
As if Lyme disease isn't troubling enough, a more serious tick-borne disease may be emerging, experts warn.
Powassan virus, which is a far rarer and more deadly pathogen than the bacterium that produces Lyme, is also transmitted by the deer tick. The virus can cause inflammation in the brain, which leads to death or permanent disability in 60 percent of cases.
So far, 75 instances of severe disease have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just last week a 5-month-old baby from Connecticut was diagnosed after developing neurological symptoms.
“The bottom line is that we should be very scared of it because nobody is safe from it,” said Dr. Jennifer Lyons, chief of the division of neurological and inflammatory diseases at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an assistant professor of neurology at the Harvard Medical School. “And it could be that it is emerging and will explode over the next few years.”
Especially worrying, the virus can be transmitted from the tick in as little as 15 minutes, Lyons said. In comparison, the Lyme bacterium needs 24 hours to pass from a tick to a human.
The reported cases have mostly come from the Northeast and the northern part of the Midwest. List of cases through 2015, per the CDC:
- Maine (2)
- Massachusetts (8)
- Minnesota (20)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (3)
- New York (16)
- Pennsylvania (1)
- Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (16)
Few have heard of Powassan virus, but it’s been around for a long time. The first reported case was in the 1950s in Ontario, said Durland Fish, a professor emeritus of epidemiology and microbiology at the Yale School of Public Health. It wasn't considered a big problem then because the virus had been transmitted by a tick that rarely bit human beings, Fish said.
But that changed when it appeared in deer ticks.
“It’s no longer a disease that’s just caused by a tick species that hardly ever bites people,” Fish said. “Now it’s being transmitted by a tick species that bites people readily. And that’s not good. This is a disease that there is no treatment for and that you can die from.”
Complete article: A tick-borne disease worse than Lyme may be spreading, experts say
