Routine Testing for Powassan Virus

Holly Frost, MD, pediatrics physician scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, in Minocqua, Wisconsin, discusses routine testing for Powassan virus.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“At this point we wouldn’t recommend testing patients routinely for Powassan virus because we don’t know what clinical benefit that would have or how it would alter treatment. If you do have a patient [who’s] critically ill or a patient [who] has encephalitis and you live in an area endemic for Lyme, those patients should be tested for Powassan virus.”