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Maryland Reports Initial Travel-Linked Fatality Due to Uncommon Tick-Transmitted Virus

The Maryland Health Department disclosed on Friday that the state witnessed its inaugural fatality due to the uncommon Powassan tickborne virus.

The victim contracted the disease while in Canada and subsequently returned to Maryland. The diagnosis of the tick bite causing the disease was verified by authorities on Sept. 22.

The disease, which is transmitted through the bite of an infected tick, is not common, as stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It cannot be passed from one person to another, and the department doesn’t view it as a danger of spreading locally.

Commenting on the matter, Nilesh Kalyanaraman, Maryland’s Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services, expressed, “It’s with deep sorrow that we acknowledge the state’s first Powassan virus-related death. The victim acquired the virus in Canada and came back to Maryland. There’s no indication that the disease might spread locally in Maryland. We encourage everyone to be cautious in tick-prone regions or better yet, steer clear of them.”

As per CDC’s information, the frequency of reported cases, albeit rare, has seen a surge in recent times.

By Oct. 3 of 2023, nine other states in the U.S. have confirmed the presence of the disease, totaling 28 verified cases this year, excluding the Maryland case. New York reported six cases, Massachusetts five, Maine and Connecticut both reported four, Minnesota identified three, while Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania had two or one case respectively.

For the entire 2022, there were 44 recorded cases by the CDC, a rise from 24 in 2021. Since 2016, over 20 cases have been reported annually. However, in the ten years before that, the annual count was mostly single-digit, not surpassing 16 cases.