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Source: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170422/rare-tick-borne-disease-found-in-conn-infant
Rare tick-borne disease found in Conn. infant
Saturday
Posted Apr 22, 2017 at 4:20 PM Updated Apr 22, 2017 at 4:20 PM
Five-month-old baby treated in Hartford in state?s first confirmed case of Powassan virus disease, which can cause motor disturbances and seizures and is fatal in up to 10 percent of cases.
By Lena H. Sun / The Washington Post
It started with fever and vomiting. Then the five-month-old baby developed facial twitching, stiffening of his right arm and seizures. The family rushed him to Connecticut Children?s Medical Center in Hartford.
Clinicians there performed tests, including a brain MRI that showed clear signs of a serious infection. The testing showed that the baby didn?t have meningitis, an infection in the tissues surrounding the brain. But he did have an unusual pattern of inflammation in the very deep parts of his brain.
Doctors didn?t know what was causing the inflammation. But the parents said that two weeks earlier, they had pulled a tick off the baby?s knee, and that the tick had been there for two to three hours. The parents told doctors that the tick was probably carried in on someone?s clothing who had been out hunting and then held the baby before changing clothes...
Rare tick-borne disease found in Conn. infant
Saturday
Posted Apr 22, 2017 at 4:20 PM Updated Apr 22, 2017 at 4:20 PM
Five-month-old baby treated in Hartford in state?s first confirmed case of Powassan virus disease, which can cause motor disturbances and seizures and is fatal in up to 10 percent of cases.
By Lena H. Sun / The Washington Post
It started with fever and vomiting. Then the five-month-old baby developed facial twitching, stiffening of his right arm and seizures. The family rushed him to Connecticut Children?s Medical Center in Hartford.
Clinicians there performed tests, including a brain MRI that showed clear signs of a serious infection. The testing showed that the baby didn?t have meningitis, an infection in the tissues surrounding the brain. But he did have an unusual pattern of inflammation in the very deep parts of his brain.
Doctors didn?t know what was causing the inflammation. But the parents said that two weeks earlier, they had pulled a tick off the baby?s knee, and that the tick had been there for two to three hours. The parents told doctors that the tick was probably carried in on someone?s clothing who had been out hunting and then held the baby before changing clothes...