What is Powassan's Disease?
Rare and life-threatening tick virus worries doctors. What is Powassan's disease and how can you protect yourself?
A Maine resident was infected with a rare, but usually severe, tick-borne illness that can cause brain infections and meningitis, and in some cases lead to death. Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in a release Wednesday that the resident who had not been identified had shown symptoms of human disease of Powassan encephalitis ̵
Most cases of the Powassan virus – first discovered in Powassan, Ontario in 1958 – occurred in the northeast and in the Great Lakes region
Infected with the virus usually experience fever, headache, vomiting , weakness, confusion, convulsions and memory loss, in the Maine CDC, which also notes: neurological problems may occur. "
" Symptoms can begin anytime from one week to one month after a tick bite. There is no specific treatment, but people with severe Powassan virus often need to be hospitalized, "she added. swollen around the brain, but there is no medicine to treat the virus, nor is there a vaccine to prevent it, and about 10% of the cases lead to death, according to the federal health agency. an average of 7 cases reported each year in the US In Maine, 11 cases of Powassan virus occurred since 2000, state health officials said.
Fox News Alexandria Hain contributed to this report
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