AJTMH Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 79(6), 2008, pp. 971-973
Copyright © 2008 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


Stable Prevalence of Powassan Virus in Ixodes scapularis in a Northern Wisconsin Focus

Doug E. Brackney, Robert A. Nofchissey, Kelly A. Fitzpatrick, Ivy K. Brown, AND Gregory D. Ebel*
University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

ABSTRACT

Deer tick virus (DTV), a variant of Powassan virus (POWV), appears to be maintained in nature in an enzootic cycle between Ixodes scapularis ticks and small mammals. Although POWV infection of human beings is rare, a recent report suggests increasing incidence and the possibility that POWV may be an emerging tick-borne zoonosis. Therefore, we assessed the long-term stability of the POWV transmission cycle in northwestern Wisconsin. Adult I. scapularis and Dermacentor variabilis were collected from Hayward and Spooner, Wisconsin, screened for infection by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and virus was isolated. Seventeen of 1,335 (1.3%) of I. scapularis and 0 of 222 (0%) of D. variabilis ticks were infected. All isolated virus belonged to the DTV genotype of POWV. These findings suggest stable transmission of POWV in this focus over ten years and highlight the potential for this agent to emerge as a public health concern.

Received July 29, 2008. Accepted for publication September 5, 2008.

Financial support: This work was supported in part by funds from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health under grant AI067380, and by the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Pathology. Ivy Brown is supported by the University of New Mexico Initiative to Maximize Student Diversity, which is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institutes of Health, under grant GM060201.

Disclosure: Sequencing was performed at the UNM DNA research facility.

* Address correspondence to Gregory D. Ebel, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, 1 University of New Mexico, MSC 08-4640, Albuquerque, NM 87131. E-mail: gebel{at}salud.unm.edu

Authors’ addresses: Doug E. Brackney, Robert A. Nofchissey, Kelly A. Fitzpatrick, Ivy K. Brown, and Gregory D. Ebel, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, 1 University of New Mexico, MSC 08-4640, Albuquerque, NM 87131.






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