Reported United States Powassan virus cases rose from a handful per year through the 1990s to roughly 30 to 50 per year by the early 2020s. Most cases are now caused by the deer tick virus (lineage 2) carried by Ixodes scapularis, riding the same range expansion as Lyme disease - though absolute numbers remain small compared to Lyme.
Ixodes cookei is the textbook vector of Powassan virus lineage 1 in eastern North America, but it almost never bites humans. Its host…
In a deer-tick mouse model, Powassan virus passed to naive mice after as little as 15 minutes of tick attachment. There appears to be no…
Ixodes marxi feeds primarily on tree squirrels and rarely bites humans, but it cycles Powassan virus lineage 1 through small mammals along…
Roughly 10 to 15 percent of patients hospitalized with Powassan virus encephalitis die, and around half of survivors have lasting…
Powassan virus is named for the town of Powassan, Ontario, where in September 1958 virologists D.M. McLean and W.L. Donohue isolated it…
Roughly 95 percent of confirmed Lyme disease cases in the United States are reported from 14 high-incidence states clustered in the…