Maine has First Tick-Related Death this Year from Powassan Virus

Let's face it, ticks are pure evil.

Honestly, out of curiosity, I've scoured the internet looking for any God-given usefulness that ticks might have. Like, are used in cancer research or something. I really want to believe that if they're on this planet, there has to be a reason. The closest thing I can find, is that they offer a source of protein to the animals that choose to hunt and eat them. End of story. So, at best, they're food.

Read More: Will There Soon be a Pill Maine People can Take to Kill Ticks?

But at worst, they're straight-up killers. If you get bitten by a deer tick, hopefully nothing happens at all. You may certainly develop Lyme Disease, which is obviously no fun at all. But if something truly awful happens and you come into contact with a tick carrying the Powassan Virus, it can sadly be fatal.

How would you even know if you had it?

There are plenty of symptoms that include fever, headache, vomiting, and weakness in the body. But symptoms often take days to weeks to develop, after you've already been bitten. So you may not initially associate the symptoms with a recent tick bite. As it gets more serious, symptoms could look more like confusion, loss of coordination, difficulty speaking, and seizures, according to the CDC.

Ans as of now, there are no vaccines or medications that can treat the virus. the only way to not get it, is to avoid ticks. If you live in a rural area, or have pets that spend any time outdoors, this is almost impossible. So as usual, ticks have the upper hand in our battle against them. There were even rumors a few years ago that ticks were literally doing battle, as some theorized someone had weaponized ticks against us. Really!

Sadly, Maine has lost its first victim to the Powassan Virus this year.

A person from the York area contracted the virus recently, and unfortunately succumbed to it. There've also been two other cases of the virus in Maine this year, but those people thankfully were able to beat it. Overall, Maine has had it's fair share of infections from this otherwise, very rare virus. 7 Mainers got it last year alone, with two deaths in the last 13 months, according to WABI.

Read More: Maine is in Store for a Hot and Sticky Summer, According to NOAA 

Again, there's really no way to combat the situation, other than to avoid ticks in the first place. There's no medicine or vaccine of any kind. So if you do get it, the only treatment is to let it run it's course, and hope your immune system is robust enough to fight it. But it's only June... This could make for a long, sad summer.

Of course, our condolences go out to the family of the person who passed from the virus. Such sad news...