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Original Article
Brief Report
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Volume 360:2099-2107 May 14, 2009 Number 20
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Fatal Case of Deer Tick Virus Encephalitis
Norma P. Tavakoli, Ph.D., Heng Wang, M.A., Michelle Dupuis, B.Sc., Rene Hull, B.A., Gregory D. Ebel, Sc.D., Emily J. Gilmore, M.D., and Phyllis L. Faust, M.D., Ph.D.

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SUMMARY

Deer tick virus is related to Powassan virus, a tickborne encephalitis virus. A 62-year-old man presented with a meningoencephalitis syndrome and eventually died. Analyses of tissue samples obtained during surgery and at autopsy revealed a widespread necrotizing meningoencephalitis. Nucleic acid was extracted from formalin-fixed tissue, and the presence of deer tick virus was verified on a flavivirus-specific polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) assay, followed by sequence confirmation. Immunohistochemical analysis with antisera specific for deer tick virus identified numerous immunoreactive neurons, with prominent involvement of large neurons in the brain stem, cerebellum, basal ganglia, thalamus, and spinal cord. This case demonstrates that deer tick virus can be a cause of fatal encephalitis.


Source Information

From the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health (N.P.T., H.W., M.D., R.H.), and the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany (N.P.T.) — both in Albany; the Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque (G.D.E.); and the Departments of Neurology (E.J.G.) and Pathology and Cell Biology (P.L.F.), Columbia University, and New York Presbyterian Hospital (E.J.G., P.L.F.) — both in New York.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Tavakoli at the Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, NY 12201, or at norma.tavakoli{at}wadsworth.org.

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