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One person in Maine has contracted the Powassan virus, a rare tickborne disease, and the first case in the state this year.

The Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday that a Waldo County resident was hospitalized for the virus, and is now recovering at home.

“Cases of Powassan are rare in the United States, with about 25 cases reported each year since 2015,” according to a Maine CDC news release. “Maine has identified nine cases since 2010. Humans become infected with Powassan through the bite of an infected deer tick or woodchuck tick.”

Symptoms of Powassan virus include fever, headache, fatigue, vomiting, memory loss, and in severe cases can cause brain infections.

Deer ticks also transmit Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis and other diseases.

 

 

 

 

Joe Lawlor writes about health and human services for the Press Herald. A 24-year newspaper veteran, Lawlor has worked in Ohio, Michigan and Virginia before relocating to Maine in 2013 to join the Press...

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