Rare Tick-Borne Disease Powassan Kills Rhode Island Resident From Washington County

WASHINGTON COUNTY, RI — Researchers with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed a case of a rare tick-borne disease that killed a Rhode Island woman, state officials said Tuesday.

Officials with the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) said the case was detected in a woman over age 80 from Washington County. The woman developed neurological symptoms and died in mid-July, RIDOH officials said. The woman's identity has not been released.

Powassan is most often found in the Northeast, Great Lakes region and parts of eastern Canada. Over the past 10 years, approximately 239 cases were identified in the United States. While the disease is rare, cases have increased in recent years, RIDOH officials said.

From 2013 to 2022, 93 cases were identified in New England: 49 in Massachusetts, 18 in Connecticut, 16 in Maine, five in New Hampshire and five in Rhode Island.

Common symptoms of the virus include fever, headache, vomiting and a general feeling of weakness. The disease usually progresses to meningoencephalitis, which may include meningeal signs, altered mental status, seizures, difficulty understanding or speaking, muscle weakness or paralysis, movement disorders or cranial nerve palsies, RIDOH said. Serious cases often require hospitalization.

Follow these tips from the Rhode Island departments of health and environmental management to repel, check for and remove ticks when spending time outdoors. Read more on the Department of Health's website.

Repel

• Avoiding wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaves. If you are going to be in a wooded area, walk in the center of the trail to avoid contact with overgrown grass, brush, and leaves at the edges of the trail. You can also spray your clothes with permethrin to keep ticks away. Make sure to not spray this on your skin.
• Wearing long pants and long-sleeve shirts when outside.
• Tucking your pants into your socks, so ticks do not crawl under your clothes.
• Wearing light-colored clothing, so you can see ticks more easily.

Check

• Taking a shower as soon as you come inside if you have been in grassy or wooded areas.
• Doing a full-body tick check using a mirror; parents should check their kids for ticks and pay special attention to the area in and around the ears, in the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and in their hair.
• Checking your pets for ticks as well because they can bring ticks into the home.

Remove

• Use a set of tweezers to remove the tick. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull straight up.
• If you don't have tweezers, use your fingers with a tissue or rubber gloves.

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