The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the state’s first case of Powassan virus this year.
The disease was detected in a Penobscot County resident who was infected in Maine, the CDC said.
Powassan virus is carried by deer ticks. Transmission can happen in as little as 15 minutes after a bite from an infected tick. Infections can be severe and fatal. The incubation period ranges from one to five weeks after a bite from an infected tick.
June and November were the months when symptoms most frequently appeared in the 41 cases reported in Maine residents since 2000, according to the Maine CDC.
Roughly 1% of deer ticks submitted to the University of Maine Tick Laboratory test positive for Powassan virus, according to the Maine CDC.
The number of annual cases has been rising rapidly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 76 Powassan infections nationwide last year, the largest number recorded. Sixty-eight of the infected people were hospitalized.
Symptoms can include fever, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and neck stiffness.
In the more rare and severe neuroinvasive cases, symptoms include vomiting, ataxia, aphasia, encephalitis, meningitis, confusion, altered mental status, convulsions, seizures, paresis/paralysis, coma and death.
About 10% of people with severe symptoms die from infection and about half of survivors have long-lasting neurologic problems, according to the Maine CDC.
For more information on Powassan virus, including prevention and detection, visit the Maine CDC’s tick website.
