The New York state Department of Health has confirmed a case of Powasssan virus in Dutchess County. The rare tick-borne disease is the county’s first case this year.
The state Health Department confirmed the case this week and was reporting it to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday. The case in Dutchess is the fourth in the state in 2017; the three other cases were in Saratoga County over the summer. Bryon Backenson is Deputy Director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control with DOH and underscores that Powassan is extremely rare.
“We usually don’t try and publicize a single case of disease, but one of the reasons that we’re trying to do it now is because there is a tick risk,” Backenson says. “There’s always a tick risk in October and November. It’s something that people don’t necessarily realize.”
He says the adult ticks are out now and stay out until it grows consistently cold.
