'He just collapsed.' Rare tick-borne illness leaves Wappingers Falls man fighting for life
Powassan is different than Lyme Disease in that it is a virus, not a bacterium. It cannot be treated with antibiotics. It takes as little as 15 minutes of tick attachment to infect humans.
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Jessica Brutting said that, barring a miracle, her stepfather - 62-year-old Glen Banks, of Wappingers Falls - will likely die soon after having contracted a tick-borne illness.
Banks, a lover of NASCAR and the outdoors, would often take his dogs to the parks and trails along Wappinger Creek.
Brutting suspects it was at a park or along the trails where Banks contracted the Powassan Virus from a deer tick.
On June 14, Banks thought he was experiencing flu symptoms.
"By the next morning, he just collapsed and my mom couldn't get him up off the porch," Brutting said. "He went right into unconsciousness."
Banks has not spoken since.
In his hospital bed at Westchester Medical Center, he sometimes opens his eyes and seems to track moving things, but doctors have informed the family "he's not there," Brutting said during an interview at her Wappingers Falls home.
Powassan can attack the nervous system and make the brain swell.
It is different than Lyme Disease in that it is a virus, not a bacterium. It cannot be treated with antibiotics. It takes as little as 15 minutes of tick attachment to infect humans.
Lyme takes up to 48 hours of attachment to transmit.
Powassan, like Lyme, is carried by deer ticks, which can be as small as a poppy seed, as Dutchess County Health Commissioner Livia Santiago-Rosado described it.
About one in 20 deer ticks tested in New York State carry the Powassan virus, Dr. Santiago said, compared to about one out of every two carrying Lyme.
She said most people who contract the virus experience minor symptoms or none at all. A small minority dies.
"If you start to experience symptoms, especially if you know you've been bitten by a tick, it would definitely be a good idea to seek medical care," Dr. Santiago said Friday in a Zoom interview.
As they await further word from doctors, Banks' relatives in Wappingers Falls have been treating their yards and homes for ticks.
Brutting was surprised that despite the meticulous care she and her husband found a deer tick on their cat Murphy, who is strictly an indoor cat.
"And he was in our bed when we found that it was on him," she said, "so it's very hard to avoid them."
Dutchess County health officials said the county has had 14 confirmed Powassan cases since 2012. A case last year, also in Wappingers Falls, was fatal.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has logged 20 Powassan cases nationwide so far this year.
Santiago said that since factors like climate change are prolonging the tick season, the risk of contracting Powassan is only increasing, though cases are still rare.
