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|Videos|November 1, 2016
What is Powassan Virus?
Author(s)Contagion Editorial Staff
Holly Frost, MD, pediatrics physician scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, in Minocqua, Wisconsin, explains what Powassan virus is.
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Holly Frost, MD, pediatrics physician scientist at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, in Minocqua, Wisconsin, explains what Powassan virus is.
Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)
“Powassan virus is a tick-borne flavivirus that was first discovered in Ontario in 1956. Powassan virus is known to be carried by the Ixodes scapularis, or the black-leg tick, which is also known as the deer tick. That’s the same vector that carries Lyme disease, Anaplasma, and Babesia.
It’s a relatively newly discovered virus, and so we don’t know exactly how prevalent it is in humans in the United States, but we do know that about 7% of ticks in endemic areas for Lyme disease also carry Powassan virus, and that in, some mammal populations in the Northeast, up to 90% of the population can have Powassan virus.”
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