You've heard of Lyme disease, but Minnesota's ticks carry another illness
"Most of the day is spent in front of a microscope identifying mosquitoes and ticks and black flies," said Scott Larson.
Such is the life of an entomologist at the
Metropolitan Mosquito Control District
. But despite the daily routine, they're always discovering something new.
"Ticks are much more important as far as human disease goes in this area," said Larson, an assistant entomologist.
Lyme disease gets a lot of attention, but as they've seen an uptick in deer tick numbers over the years, another illness has caught their eye.
"It's an extremely rare disease but it is something you should be very aware of," said Janet Jarnefeld with tick vector services.
It's called Powassan virus and it can be fatal to the elderly or people who are immuno-compromised. While it has similar symptoms to Lyme disease, with a headache and vomiting, it's believed it infects people much faster.
"For Powassan virus, it's unknown but you could possibly become infected only 15 minutes after a tick bites you," said Jarnefeld.
Unlike other
tick-borne diseases
, there is no treatment or cure for Powassan virus. The illness has to run its course.
But prevention is the same: wearing long pants and boots in the woods and using certain insect repellents.
In Minnesota, there were only 14 cases of Powassan last year. But it's enough of a concern that MMCD has started collecting samples to learn as much as they can about the virus.
"There are always new things to learn and new things coming up on the horizons," said Jarnefeld.
The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District says it's too early to tell if tick numbers will be high this year, but they did collect a high number of larval ticks last year, which sometimes means an increase the following year. Experts say Powassan virus originated in Canadian ticks before coming to the U.S.
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Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Why is Martha's Vineyard going vegan? It's because of the ticks.
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Other patients have reported allergic reactions to brands of bottled water and white sugar that are processed using animal-bone char. Both the troublemaking foods and the symptoms they induce -- cramps, diarrhea, hives, swelling, asthma and, in extreme cases, anaphylactic shock -- vary widely from one person to the next. 'The hallmark of alpha-gal is that the reactions are consistently inconsistent,' Roden-Reynolds said. Advertisement Some patients find that their sensitivity clears up within six to 12 months. For others, it can linger, though exactly how long is one of many unknowns in the relatively young field of alpha-gal science. A number of people aren't quite sure whether they have gotten over it or not because they've simply stopped eating meat and dairy. 'Some people say it's the best thing that's ever happened, and they'll never go back,' even if their sensitivity vanishes, Levy said. Whether temporary or not, the vegan boom has inspired some grocers to seek out more plant-based ice creams, cheeses and other products. 'They're selling like crazy,' said Rosemarie Willett, who owns North Tisbury Farm & Market. Several times a day, customers who are loading up their grocery baskets break into impromptu conversations about life without meat and dairy. 'I feel left out at this point that I don't have alpha-gal,' Willett said. This article originally appeared in
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Forbes
17 hours ago
- Forbes
Small Investment, Big Returns: Why This NIH Center Matters
UNITED STATES - MAY 10: Activists hold signs during rally outside the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images 25 years ago, I had a life-changing experience. I got the biggest break in my career. My application to do a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley was accepted, and I was offered funding support through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program called the Fogarty AIDS International Training Program. I had little money those days, and without NIH funding and a welcoming professor who cared deeply about global health, I could have never left India for higher education in the United States. Today, I chair a department of global and public health at a leading Canadian university. The life-changing opportunities I had as a Fogarty trainee at Berkeley allow me to pay it forward by training the next generation of global health leaders. I was not the only scholar to benefit from Fogarty funding - nearly 8,500 individuals from 132 countries have trained through Fogarty programs since 1989, and many have become leaders in their countries. Several have led groudbreaking research projects, and led inspiring programs and institutions. Soumya Swaminathan is a great example. After her Fogarty training in the United States, she went on to become a leading HIV and TB researcher, become the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and subsequently the first Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization. 'My Fogarty fellowship gave me an opportunity to get exposed to advanced immunological techniques and meet leading experts at a critical stage of my career. It helped spark new ideas and initiate collaboration with international experts which may not have happened otherwise,' she said. Another shining example is Glenda Gray, who was the first female President of the South African Medical Research Council. 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America's economic strength, in part, comes from the nation's immense scientific firepower. I am especially distressed to learn that the FIC is once again on the chopping block, with the entire $95 million budget FIC budget set to become zero in 2026. How exactly is cutting such an impactful program supposed to make America great? Even as the world deals with massive crises like pandemics, conflicts, climate change, and widening economic inequities, all of which require truly, global cooperation and coordination, it seems like politicians are choosing narrow self-interests, nationalism, and isolationism. This strategy is not likely to succeed. Why? We've all witnessed how interconnected the world is during the Covid-19 pandemic. Viruses that emerge in far away places will find us, regardless of who we are or where we happen to live. Every outbreak is merely one long-haul flight away. Smoke from wildfires will travel thousands of miles to darken our skies and choke our lungs. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 7: Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada diminishes the visibility of the Chrysler Building on June 7, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by David) Getty Images There is no way to protect just one nation or one region when threats are trans-national. Our fates are undisputably intertwined with that of other countries and peoples. There is nothing 'woke' about looking out for each other in an interdependent world. And that is why America must stay engaged in global health and multi-laterialism. And that is why American lawmakers must work to protect a national treasure like the Fogarty International Center. If an investment is yielding spectacular returns, no smart business person would dream of killing it. So, why defund the FIC and the NIH? If I was a US lawmaker, that is the question I would be asking myself. I take some hope from the fact that the Senate Appropriations Committee recently rejected the Trump administration's proposed funding cuts to the NIH. But the road ahead is long and hard. I hope good sense will prevail and the powers that be will find a way to save America's phenomenal scientific enterprise. Science matters for America's health. It matters for health of the whole world.
