title: Seroprevalence of Powassan virus in New England deer, 1979-2010.
abstract: Powassan virus and its subtype, deer tick virus, are closely related tick-borne flaviviruses that circulate in North America. The incidence of human infection by these agents appears to have increased in recent years. To define exposure patterns among white-tailed deer, potentially useful sentinels that are frequently parasitized by ticks, we screened serum samples collected during 1979-2010 in Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont for neutralizing antibody by using a novel recombinant deer tick virus-West Nile virus chimeric virus. Evidence of exposure was detected in all three states. Overall our results demonstrate that seroprevalence is variable in time and space, suggesting that risk of exposure to Powassan virus is similarly variable.
authors.affiliation: University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM, USA. rnofchissey@salud.unm.edu
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Nofchissey
authors.forename: Eleanor R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Deardorff
authors.forename: Tia M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Blevins
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anishchenko
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosco-Lauth
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Berl
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lubelczyk
authors.forename: John-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Mutebi
authors.forename: Aaron C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Brault
authors.forename: Gregory D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Ebel
authors.forename: Louis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Magnarelli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003237:Connecticut / Q000453:epidemiology; D003670:Deer / Q000821:virology*; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018177:Flavivirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology*; D018884:Ixodes / Q000821:virology*; D008281:Maine / Q000453:epidemiology; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014707:Vermont / Q000453:epidemiology; D014902:West Nile virus / Q000302:isolation & purification