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 chunk.
You’ve got probably heard of Lyme illness and the issues it might trigger when handed to a human by means of 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 be transmitted by ticks. That is the chunk that led to deadly problems 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 — probably contracted the virus within the state, in line 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,’ ‘pissed off,'” Weymouth advised 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,” stated 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 studies 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 by which a mosquito is the vector, reminiscent of dengue and Zika. Apart from its transmission by a tick, Powassan virus is “under no circumstances, form or kind something like Lyme illness,” Shapiro stated.
Powassan virus is carefully associated to one thing referred to as tick-borne encephalitis, which is a virus notably seen in Central Jap Europe and Eurasia, Shapiro stated.
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 bought its identify from its discovery in a 5-year-old boy who died of the virus within the late Nineteen Fifties in Powassan, Ontario, Canada.
Consultants assume it was transmitted primarily by the groundhog tick, which usually didn’t feed on people. As a substitute, it fed totally on skunks, groundhogs and squirrels, Shapiro stated.
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 optimistic for the virus, that’s not exhibiting up in excessive numbers of Powassan human an infection, Shapiro stated.
However circumstances are rising, in line with CDC numbers, stated 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 medical doctors are testing for it extra often, she stated.
“There isn’t any therapy, aside from kind of normal help of a person who has the illness,” Baumgarth stated. “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 circumstances.”
Different signs can embody fever, chills, fatigue, rash on trunk of the physique, muscle weak point, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and neck stiffness, in line with Yale Medication.
Nonetheless, the overwhelming majority of these contaminated probably may 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 loss of life price is someplace between 10% and 30%, Shapiro stated.
Remember, nonetheless, it’s uncommon. “It’s a little scary, however it’s a uncommon illness,” Baumgarth stated.
With Lyme illness, the tick needs to be hooked up 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 laborious to outrun that.”
Prevention is the most effective treatment
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 stated.
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 perhaps seen. Take away them immediately.
Use an insect repellent that has 30% DEET. One other repellent, permethrin, is supposed to be utilized to clothes.
After you come from climbing, wash garments and place in a sizzling dryer. If it’s sizzling sufficient, that can kill ticks.
Verify your self for ticks after you come, bathe instantly and have another person test in locations you’ll be able to’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 drugs PhD program, Yale College, New Haven, Conn.; Nicole Baumgarth, DVM, PhD, immunologist, Johns Hopkins Faculty of Public Well being, Baltimore; CBS Information
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