By Cara Murez
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Might 25, 2023 (HealthDay Information) – Robert Weymouth, 58, of Portland, Maine, died this 12 months due to a tick chunk.
You’ve got seemingly heard of Lyme illness and the issues it might probably trigger when handed to a human by the chunk of a deer tick. However Lyme isn’t the one tick-borne sickness within the woods.
Powassan virus — a uncommon and untreatable an infection — can also be transmitted by ticks. That is the chunk that led to deadly issues within the case of this Maine truck driver.
Weymouth — the third Powassan demise since 2015 in Maine and the primary this 12 months — seemingly contracted the virus within the state, in accordance with Maine’s Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. He developed neurological signs and died within the hospital.
His widow, Annemarie Weymouth, is now warning others about defending themselves from the sickness.
“He was in there, however he could not transfer his physique. He might level to phrases on a board. He pointed to ‘scared,’ ‘afraid,’ ‘annoyed,'” Weymouth instructed CBS Information.
True case numbers unknown
“As a result of it is comparatively uncommon to make the analysis, there’s quite a bit we do not know,” mentioned Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale College.
However here is what is thought:
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention acquired 189 stories of Powassan an infection between 2012 and 2021.
Most U.S. circumstances of Powassan virus occur within the Northeast and Nice Lakes areas. Maine had 4 circumstances final 12 months alone.
Although ticks are arachnids like spiders, the virus shouldn’t be so totally different from some viruses wherein a mosquito is the vector, akin to dengue and Zika. Apart from its transmission by a tick, Powassan virus is “under no circumstances, form or kind something like Lyme illness,” Shapiro mentioned.
Powassan virus is carefully associated to one thing referred to as tick-borne encephalitis, which is a virus significantly seen in Central Jap Europe and Eurasia, Shapiro mentioned.
The Powassan virus severely impacts solely a small variety of individuals annually. But it surely’s doable many others are asymptomatic or have minor or flu-like signs and aren’t identified.
The virus acquired its title from its discovery in a 5-year-old boy who died of the virus within the late Nineteen Fifties in Powassan, Ontario, Canada.
Specialists assume it was transmitted primarily by the groundhog tick, which generally didn’t feed on people. As a substitute, it fed totally on skunks, groundhogs and squirrels, Shapiro mentioned.
In some unspecified time in the future, it moved to deer ticks, and people are ticks that generally chunk people.
Mind irritation
There are nonetheless many mysteries to unravel regarding Powassan virus. For instance, though some analysis has instructed that as many as 5% of deer ticks in some areas of Connecticut are constructive for the virus, that’s not displaying up in excessive numbers of Powassan human an infection, Shapiro mentioned.
However circumstances are rising, in accordance with CDC numbers, mentioned Dr. Nicole Baumgarth, an immunologist at Johns Hopkins Faculty of Public Well being. But it’s not clear whether or not there are literally extra individuals changing into contaminated or if docs are testing for it extra regularly, she mentioned.
“There isn’t any therapy, apart from form of normal help of a person who has the illness,” Baumgarth mentioned. “Essentially the most critical sickness related to Powassan is irritation of the mind, or encephalitis, however not all people who will get contaminated with this virus will develop these very extreme circumstances.”
Different signs can embody fever, chills, fatigue, rash on trunk of the physique, muscle weak spot, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and neck stiffness, in accordance with Yale Drugs.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of these contaminated seemingly can have no signs or minor signs and never be identified.
For many who do have signs extreme sufficient to be identified, usually with encephalitis, the demise price is someplace between 10% and 30%, Shapiro mentioned.
Take into accout, nevertheless, it’s uncommon. “It’s a little scary, however it’s a uncommon illness,” Baumgarth mentioned.
With Lyme illness, the tick needs to be connected for a few day or so to transmit its an infection. Pulling the tick off promptly places you at low danger of an infection. If it’s been longer, a single dose of doxycycline is reasonably efficient in stopping an infection. Nonetheless, Baumgarth famous that the Powassan pathogen might be transmitted quicker than Lyme micro organism, “so it is onerous to outrun that.”
Prevention is one of the best remedy
You possibly can take some precautions to restrict tick publicity when spending time in grassy or wooded areas that may harbor ticks, Baumgarth and Shapiro mentioned.
Put on lengthy sleeves and lengthy pants, with the bottoms of the pants tucked inside socks.
Put on light-colored clothes in order that any ticks is likely to be seen. Take away them instantly.
Use an insect repellent that has 30% DEET. One other repellent, permethrin, is supposed to be utilized to clothes.
After you come from mountaineering, wash garments and place in a scorching dryer. If it’s scorching sufficient, that can kill ticks.
Verify your self for ticks after you come, bathe instantly and have another person test in locations you possibly can’t see, if doable.
Extra data
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra on the Powassan virus.
SOURCES: Eugene Shapiro, MD, professor, pediatrics and epidemiology, vice chair for analysis, Division of Pediatrics, and deputy director, investigative medication PhD program, Yale College, New Haven, Conn.; Nicole Baumgarth, DVM, PhD, immunologist, Johns Hopkins Faculty of Public Well being, Baltimore; CBS Information
