By Cara Murez
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Could 25, 2023 (HealthDay Information) – Robert Weymouth, 58, of Portland, Maine, died this 12 months due to a tick chew.
You have doubtless heard of Lyme illness and the issues it might trigger when handed to a human by means of the chew 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 be transmitted by ticks. That is the chew that led to deadly issues within the case of this Maine truck driver.
Weymouth — the third Powassan loss of life since 2015 in Maine and the primary this 12 months — doubtless contracted the virus within the state, based on 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,’ ‘pissed off,'” Weymouth informed 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 obtained 189 experiences of Powassan an infection between 2012 and 2021.
Most U.S. instances of Powassan virus occur within the Northeast and Nice Lakes areas. Maine had 4 instances final 12 months alone.
Although ticks are arachnids like spiders, the virus is just not so completely different from some viruses by which a mosquito is the vector, akin to dengue and Zika. Aside from its transmission by a tick, Powassan virus is “by no means, 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 Japanese Europe and Eurasia, Shapiro mentioned.
The Powassan virus severely impacts solely a small variety of individuals annually. But it surely’s potential many others are asymptomatic or have minor or flu-like signs and aren’t identified.
The virus acquired its identify from its discovery in a 5-year-old boy who died of the virus within the late Fifties in Powassan, Ontario, Canada.
Specialists suppose it was once transmitted primarily by the groundhog tick, which usually didn’t feed on people. As an alternative, 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 chew people.
Mind irritation
There are nonetheless many mysteries to unravel regarding Powassan virus. For instance, though some analysis has urged that as many as 5% of deer ticks in some areas of Connecticut are optimistic for the virus, that’s not displaying up in excessive numbers of Powassan human an infection, Shapiro mentioned.
However instances are rising, based on CDC numbers, mentioned Dr. Nicole Baumgarth, an immunologist at Johns Hopkins College of Public Well being. But it’s not clear whether or not there are literally extra individuals turning into contaminated or if docs are testing for it extra incessantly, she mentioned.
“There isn’t any remedy, apart from kind of common help of a person who has the illness,” Baumgarth mentioned. “Probably the most severe sickness related to Powassan is irritation of the mind, or encephalitis, however not everyone who will get contaminated with this virus will develop these very extreme instances.”
Different signs can embrace fever, chills, fatigue, rash on trunk of the physique, muscle weak point, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and neck stiffness, based on Yale Drugs.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of these contaminated doubtless could have no signs or minor signs and never be identified.
For individuals who do have signs extreme sufficient to be identified, sometimes with encephalitis, the loss of life fee is someplace between 10% and 30%, Shapiro mentioned.
Take note, nevertheless, it’s uncommon. “It’s a little scary, however it’s a uncommon illness,” Baumgarth mentioned.
With Lyme illness, the tick must be connected for a couple of 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 will be transmitted quicker than Lyme micro organism, “so it is onerous to outrun that.”
Prevention is one of the best treatment
You’ll be able to 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 straight away.
Use an insect repellent that has 30% DEET. One other repellent, permethrin, is supposed to be utilized to clothes.
After you come back from climbing, wash garments and place in a sizzling dryer. If it’s sizzling sufficient, that can kill ticks.
Examine your self for ticks after you come back, bathe instantly and have another person examine in locations you’ll be able to’t see, if potential.
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 drugs PhD program, Yale College, New Haven, Conn.; Nicole Baumgarth, DVM, PhD, immunologist, Johns Hopkins College of Public Well being, Baltimore; CBS Information
