My tick from Sonoma county is + for Powassen Virus. It's here people ~!
Typically only seen the eastern black leg tick. I sent the tick in that bit me in Sonoma, CA to a lab that does comprehensive testing on the east coast. My western female black leg deer tick is positive for Powassen virus. Terrifying ~! I have done a deep dive into scientific articles and studies - everywhere in the lilterature it states that these ticks do not carry it.
WRONG! I think we just are not testing for it in California. It has a low transmission rate, but if you get sick from it there is no cure. A handful of people get severe illness and encephalitis. Although its rare. However if you are told it is not present in California ticks, they are wrong. This was just one tick.. not like I tested 100.
CDC states that it does not exist in sonoma or western black leg deer ticks and I just proved that wrong. I let the sonoma county health dept. know. They say not to reach out to them unless you actually get the disease. But they also say it doesn't exist in these ticks..So they are either not testing for it or I just made a major scientific discovery. LOL
Send you ticks to the east coast labs to get tested. They tested mine for over 20 diseases, which they will not do in California from what I found.