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Public release date: 15-Jul-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Lori M Quillen
quillenl@caryinstitute.org
845-677-7600 x233
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Researchers urge citizens and healthcare providers to be vigilant
The number of tick-borne illnesses reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the rise. Lyme disease leads the pack, with some 35,000 cases reported annually. In the Northeast, the black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) that spread Lyme disease also infect people with other maladies, among them anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and as a new paper in the journal Parasites and Vectors reports Powassan encephalitis.
Powassan encephalitis is caused by Powassan virus and its variant, deer tick virus. The virus is spread to people by infected ticks, and can cause central nervous system disruption, encephalitis, and meningitis. There is a 10-15% fatality rate in reported cases, with many survivors suffering long-term neurological damage.
Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and one of the paper's authors, comments: "We've seen a rise in this rare but serious illness in parts of New York State that are hotspots for Lyme disease. And we suspected it was tied to an increase in black-legged ticks carrying deer tick virus, particularly on the east side of the Hudson River."
This is precisely what a 5-year assessment bore out. Researchers surveyed ticks at sites east and west of the river. Fieldwork involved collecting ticks off of small mammals and birds, as well as dragging tick cloths near animal burrows and known tick habitats. Routine surveys performed by the New York State Department of Health were also incorporated in the study.
More than 13,500 ticks of seven species were assessed. Black-legged ticks made up almost all of the collection. Nymphs and adults were sampled, as these life stages are most likely to infect people. Counties surveyed included Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Sullivan, Ulster, Orange, and Rockland. In addition, blood samples were taken from a variety of birds and mammals, to identify deer tick virus hosts.
Throughout the study, lab analyses performed at Wadsworth Center's Arbovirus Laboratories found deer tick virus in black-legged ticks. Areas east of the Hudson River had the highest concentration of infected adult ticks on the order of 4-5% in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties. Virginia opossums, striped skunks, and raccoons were among the animals found to transmit deer tick virus to feeding ticks.
Laura Kramer, one of the paper's authors and a research scientist at the Wadsworth Center, notes: "Our findings are consistent with deer tick virus infection rates in people revealed in clinical tests by the New York State Department of Health. Of fourteen individuals testing seropositive for deer tick virus, ten were residents of Westchester, Putnam, or Dutchess counties. Another two were from Albany and Suffolk counties, areas with burgeoning black-legged tick populations."
Adding to the problem: unlike Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis which take feeding black-legged ticks hours to transmit deer tick virus transmission can occur in just 15 minutes. This leaves very little 'grace period' for removing ticks, and underscores the importance of vigilance in tick habitat.
Ostfeld concludes: "When patients present with encephalitis symptoms in areas with high levels of Lyme disease, especially during the summer, physicians need to consider Powassan encephalitis. While rare, it's associated with significant complications. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy, the best strategy remains prevention."
Our knowledge of Powassan encephalitis has grown largely as a result of West Nile virus surveillance. Both are part of the flavivirus group of arboviruses. More extensive arbovirus testing may reveal that deer tick virus is more widespread than previously thought.
###
- Alan P. Dupuis II, The Arbovirus Laboratories, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
- Ryan J. Peters, The Arbovirus Laboratories Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
- Melissa A. Prusinski, Vector Ecology Laboratory Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, NYS Dept of Health
- Richard C. Falco, Vector Ecology Laboratory, NYS Dept of Health
- Richard S. Ostfeld, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Laura D. Kramer, The Arbovirus Laboratories, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 15-Jul-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Lori M Quillen
quillenl@caryinstitute.org
845-677-7600 x233
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Researchers urge citizens and healthcare providers to be vigilant
The number of tick-borne illnesses reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the rise. Lyme disease leads the pack, with some 35,000 cases reported annually. In the Northeast, the black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) that spread Lyme disease also infect people with other maladies, among them anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and as a new paper in the journal Parasites and Vectors reports Powassan encephalitis.
Powassan encephalitis is caused by Powassan virus and its variant, deer tick virus. The virus is spread to people by infected ticks, and can cause central nervous system disruption, encephalitis, and meningitis. There is a 10-15% fatality rate in reported cases, with many survivors suffering long-term neurological damage.
Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and one of the paper's authors, comments: "We've seen a rise in this rare but serious illness in parts of New York State that are hotspots for Lyme disease. And we suspected it was tied to an increase in black-legged ticks carrying deer tick virus, particularly on the east side of the Hudson River."
This is precisely what a 5-year assessment bore out. Researchers surveyed ticks at sites east and west of the river. Fieldwork involved collecting ticks off of small mammals and birds, as well as dragging tick cloths near animal burrows and known tick habitats. Routine surveys performed by the New York State Department of Health were also incorporated in the study.
More than 13,500 ticks of seven species were assessed. Black-legged ticks made up almost all of the collection. Nymphs and adults were sampled, as these life stages are most likely to infect people. Counties surveyed included Dutchess, Putnam, Westchester, Sullivan, Ulster, Orange, and Rockland. In addition, blood samples were taken from a variety of birds and mammals, to identify deer tick virus hosts.
Throughout the study, lab analyses performed at Wadsworth Center's Arbovirus Laboratories found deer tick virus in black-legged ticks. Areas east of the Hudson River had the highest concentration of infected adult ticks on the order of 4-5% in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties. Virginia opossums, striped skunks, and raccoons were among the animals found to transmit deer tick virus to feeding ticks.
Laura Kramer, one of the paper's authors and a research scientist at the Wadsworth Center, notes: "Our findings are consistent with deer tick virus infection rates in people revealed in clinical tests by the New York State Department of Health. Of fourteen individuals testing seropositive for deer tick virus, ten were residents of Westchester, Putnam, or Dutchess counties. Another two were from Albany and Suffolk counties, areas with burgeoning black-legged tick populations."
Adding to the problem: unlike Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis which take feeding black-legged ticks hours to transmit deer tick virus transmission can occur in just 15 minutes. This leaves very little 'grace period' for removing ticks, and underscores the importance of vigilance in tick habitat.
Ostfeld concludes: "When patients present with encephalitis symptoms in areas with high levels of Lyme disease, especially during the summer, physicians need to consider Powassan encephalitis. While rare, it's associated with significant complications. There is no vaccine or specific antiviral therapy, the best strategy remains prevention."
Our knowledge of Powassan encephalitis has grown largely as a result of West Nile virus surveillance. Both are part of the flavivirus group of arboviruses. More extensive arbovirus testing may reveal that deer tick virus is more widespread than previously thought.
###
- Alan P. Dupuis II, The Arbovirus Laboratories, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
- Ryan J. Peters, The Arbovirus Laboratories Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
- Melissa A. Prusinski, Vector Ecology Laboratory Bureau of Communicable Disease Control, NYS Dept of Health
- Richard C. Falco, Vector Ecology Laboratory, NYS Dept of Health
- Richard S. Ostfeld, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
- Laura D. Kramer, The Arbovirus Laboratories, Wadsworth Center, NYS Dept of Health
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-07/cioe-btl071213.php
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And Google Glass’ slow march toward market readiness continues. The development team shared a few details about an upcoming update on the official Glass Google+ page, and it finally unlocks some oft-requested features for all those Glass Explorers to start mucking around with. The changelog is a pretty significant one — users will soon be able to initiate calls and send messages to Gmail contacts, and rather than having to navigate to the OK Glass launcher card before issuing a voice command, users can boss their headgear around without having to touch anything. But most importantly though, Google is now letting users view webpages through Glass. The post makes it seem as though the touchpad mounted on Glass’ right side will be responsible for most of the navigation — users can swipe forward and backward along the panel to scroll up and down, and there are multiple navigation schemes to fiddle with. Thankfully, there’s one tailor-made for those who generally feel impervious to embarrassment: users can pan around their favorite websites by touching two fingers to the touchpad and moving their heads to and fro. You know, nice and discreet. It’s a little hard to visualize, but current Glass Explorers won’t have to wait too long to see it for themselves as the update is slated to go live over the next few days. Frankly, it was only a matter of time before Google let those particular cats out of the bag — we’ve known that Glass had the ability to fire up a browser and listen to voice commands outside of that launcher card ever since an enterprising developer named Zhuowei Zhang uncovered a slew of so-called Glass Lab Experiments and shared them on GitHub. Naturally, there’s still plenty on that list that hasn’t been publicly implemented yet (think video stabilization and a Cliplet feature that records short snippets of video, to name a few), so expect a boatload of new updates between now and Glass’ tentative release date later this year.