BROOKLYN – The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) announced yesterday that four Connecticut residents have tested positive for Powassan virus (POWV) infection.

These four cases of POWV are the first to be identified in Connecticut this year. During 2016–2022, 19 cases of POWV associated illness were reported in Connecticut, including six in 2022; two of the infections were fatal last year.

Two male patients aged 60 years and older, residents of Middlesex County and Litchfield County, became ill during early July. Two female patients aged 50 years and older, one from Litchfield County and the other from Brooklyn in Windham County, became ill during late July. Laboratory tests performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Laboratory in Ft. Collins, CO, confirmed the presence of antibodies to POWV for all patients. All patients reported a known tick bite and were hospitalized with a central nervous system disease. They have been discharged and are recovering.

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