Seroprevalence of Powassan Virus Infection in an Area Experiencing a Cluster of Disease Cases: Sussex County, New Jersey, 2019

Grace M Vahey; Nicolette Wilson; Emily McDonald; Kelly Fitzpatrick; Jennifer Lehman; Sandhya Clark; Kristine Lindell; Daniel M Pastula; Stephen Perez; Heather Rhodes; Carolyn V Gould; J Erin Staples; Kim Cervantes; Stacey W Martin

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofac023

Seroprevalence of Powassan Virus Infection in an Area Experiencing a Cluster of Disease Cases: Sussex County, New Jersey, 2019

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Jan 17;9(3):ofac023. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac023. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Authors

Grace M Vahey^{1

2}, Nicolette Wilson^{3

4}, Emily McDonald^{1

2}, Kelly Fitzpatrick¹, Jennifer Lehman¹, Sandhya Clark³, Kristine Lindell¹, Daniel M Pastula¹, Stephen Perez^{2

3}, Heather Rhodes², Carolyn V Gould¹, J Erin Staples¹, Kim Cervantes³, Stacey W Martin¹

Affiliations

¹ Arboviral Diseases Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
² Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
³ New Jersey Department of Health, Communicable Disease Service, Trenton, New Jersey, USA.
⁴ CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellowship Program, Trenton, New Jersey, USA.

Abstract

In 2019, a geographically focal cluster of 3 Powassan virus neuroinvasive disease cases occurred in New Jersey. We conducted a serosurvey of 273 adult area residents and estimated that immunoglobulin M seroprevalence was 0.31% (95% confidence interval [CI], .04%-1.00%) and 23% (95% CI, 7%-100%) of infections result in neuroinvasive disease.

Keywords: Powassan virus; arboviral; meningoencephalitis; neuroinvasive; seroprevalence.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Infectious Diseases Society of America 2022.