Madison Kwiecinski

News Editor 

Mvk5945@psu.edu 

The Pennsylvania Health Department is warning PA residents about the “rare but dangerous” deer tick virus. As we enter spring it is prime tick season and record breaking levels of ticks are being recognized as having the dangerous deer tick virus in PA. 

In January, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Tick Surveillance program, which was implemented in 2018, reported finding an infection rate of 92 percent in ticks at the Lawrence Township Recreation Park in Clearfield County. Previously, the highest rate of ticks infected with the virus found at a single location in PA was 11 percent. 

DTV, the virus being found in ticks, is a type of Powassan virus. PA began finding ticks containing the DVT virus after it launched its five-year tick surveillance program in 2018. 

The CDC warns that DVT infected ticks have been increasing in the U.S. within recent years, mainly in the Northeast and Great Lake regions during spring up until mid fall. The first reported case in Pennsylvania occurred in 2011. 

One of the more dangerous aspects of this tick-borne illness is that there is no cure. No medicines or vaccines exist to treat Powassan. Many of those who are infected do not experience symptoms, but about 1 out of 10 people who develop the severe form of the disease dies of it. Half of those who are infected with the severe virus will experience long-term health problems including memory problems, headaches, and loss of muscle mass. The virus also can cause encephalitis, an infection of the brain, or meningitis, an infection of the membrane around your brain and spinal cord. 

From 2011 up until 2020, Pennsylvania only recorded 10 Powassan virus cases. However, it is not unlikely people have presented as asymptomatic and not reported it. Also health officials suggest, with dramatic rising levels of the virus, that Powassan virus could rise as a separate threat from the already widely spread tick-borne illness Lyme disease. 

In a news release, Patrick McDonnell, the PA Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection said, “Lyme disease has been present in all 67 counties for some time, and unfortunately, the prevalence of the very serious Deer tick Virus appears to be increasing in some tick populations.” 

DTV has been detected in 16 PA counties so far including: Adams, Allegheny, Centre, Clearfield, Columbia, Dauphin, Fayette, Lebanon, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Schuylkill, Venango, Washington, Westmoreland, and Wyoming. The “hotspot” counties are considered Clearfield, Centre, and Wyoming Counties because these counties have “unusually high infection rates” of the deer tick virus, with a tick infection rate sample totaling these counties as over 80 percent. 

The PA Secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Cindy Adams Dunn, cautions PA residents that, “Pennsylvanians should learn about the threats posed by tick-borne diseases and take commonsense precautions so they can enjoy our abundant natural resources – and the many wonderful physical and mental health benefits of outdoor recreation- as safely as possible.”