First detection of Powassan Virus lineage I in field-collected <i>Dermacentor variabilis</i> from New York, USA

Hart, Charles E.; Hassett, Erin; Vogels, Chantal B.F.; Shapley, Daniel; Grubaugh, Nathan D.; Thangamani, Saravanan

doi:10.1101/2022.03.01.22271704

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…As part of this study, we sequenced two lineage I genomes detected in I. scapularis ticks in 2019 from New York (18). Later, we sequenced two additional lineage I genomes detected in I. cookei (2020) and Dermacentor variabilis (2021) also from New York (19). Identification of Powassan virus lineage I in various tick species highlights how increased virus genomic surveillance can help to expand our knowledge of virus ecology.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeographic reconstruction of the emergence and spread of Powassan virus in the northeastern United States

Vogels

Brackney

Dupuis

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Powassan virus is an emerging tick-borne virus of concern for public health, but very little is known about its transmission patterns and ecology. Here, we expanded the genomic dataset by sequencing 279 Powassan viruses isolated from Ixodes scapularis ticks from the northeastern United States. Our phylogenetic and phylogeographic reconstructions revealed that Powassan virus lineage II was likely introduced or emerged from a relict population in the Northeast between 1940-1975. Sequences strongly clustered by sampling location, suggesting a highly focal geographical distribution. Our analyses further indicated that Powassan virus lineage II emerged in the northeastern U.S. mostly following a south to north pattern, with a weighted lineage dispersal velocity of ~3 km/year. Since the emergence in the Northeast, we found an overall increase in the effective population size of Powassan virus lineage II, but with growth stagnating during recent years. The cascading effect of population expansion of white-tailed deer and I. scapularis populations likely facilitated the emergence of Powassan virus in the northeastern U.S.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%