THUNDER BAY -- Growing concern in the United States about a tick-borne disease that is more serious than Lyme disease has Ontario and Canadian health agencies on the lookout for the Powassan virus.
The potentially deadly virus remains relatively rare, but more than 20 cases have been reported in Minnesota over the past decade. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Minnesota has seen a higher number of cases than any other state.
Since the virus was first identified in 1958 in Powassan, Ontario, sporadic human cases have been reported in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
Thunder Bay District Health Unit bio-consultant Ken Deacon says Health Canada decided in 2015 that because of the rise in cases in the U.S., blacklegged ticks submitted for testing in this country should also be screened for the Powassan virus.
Deacon said that so far, no positive test results for the virus have been returned from ticks collected in the Thunder Bay region.
It can be transmitted to a human from a tick more quickly than Lyme disease, and its symptoms are similar but worse. The virus attacks the central nervous system, causing vomiting, fever, headache, weakness, confusion, seizures, swelling of the brain and memory loss.
Deacon cautioned that Powassan has a fairly high mortality rate among infectious diseases, as "there is no medical magic bullet." Even if patients do recover, they may never recover completely,
He said it's one more reason for campers, hikers and hunters to be concerned about ticks and to take precautions to protect themselves.
Deacon is glad for media coverage about the issue, saying people need to heed the message that health officials have been delivering about ticks in recent years.
"Wear light-coloured clothing, tuck in your cuffs, do a tick check, all the things that we have said...If we say it enough, maybe people will pay attention."
Deacon believes the spread of the Powassan virus shows why it's likely that alterations in the climate will lead to the spread of this and other diseases in the northwest in the years to come.
"Because of climate change, I think what we are seeing in the States is the increase in what was an extremely rare disease prior to 2010 or earlier."
