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Phylodynamics of deer tick virus in North America

https://academic.oup.com/ve/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ve/vead008/7008731?rss=1

#viruses #virology
in reply to Frank Aylward

Some quotes of interest:

"We use a multifaceted approach to evaluate the emergence of... deer tick virus (DTV), in parts of North America where human cases occur."

"Detection of... neutralizing antibodies in Northeastern hunter-killed deer increased from 4% in 1979 to 91% in 2010."

"DTV population expansion would be consistent with population genetic studies of I. scapularis ticks and another pathogen it transmits, Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme disease."

Frank Aylward reshared this.

in reply to Eric Pyrrhus

If you found the above ☝️ study eye-opening, consider that Deer Tick/Powassan Virus (POWV) may persist in the brain, as studied in this new paper:

"Of Murines and Humans: Modeling Persistent Powassan Disease in C57BL/6 Mice"
https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.03606-22

😲 Specifically, the authors found that the #virus may persist in the brain without creating infectious particles, just as non-infectious measles can persist in the brain indefinitely — and be fatal:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6879001/
#virology #ViralPersistence
in reply to Eric Pyrrhus

@foaylward Any updates on vaccines for tick-born pathogens? A vaccine for SARS-2 was out in record time. Can we have the former on a priority list? (Mostly Recovered Lyme’s disease sufferer) #ticks #LymeDisease
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to Elzi Volk

@lzvolk @pyrrhus sorry I wouldn't know about that! Thanks Eric for the info on flavis!

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