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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Visit our website at For further information, please contact: Investor Relations ir@ Tripp Sullivan SCR Partners, LLC 615-942-7077 Trae Fitzgerald Chief Financial Officer Viemed Healthcare, Inc. 337-504-3802 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or 'forward-looking information' as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, 'forward-looking statements'). Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as 'plans', 'expects', 'is expected', 'budget', 'potential', 'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', 'believes', 'projects', or the negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results 'will', 'should', 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur' or 'be achieved' or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact, including those that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance, including the Company's expectations about its acquisition of Lehan's Medical Equipment, such as contingent payments, anticipated benefits, and anticipated updates to the Company's 2025 financial guidance are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the Company's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to the Company, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. 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Any such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, the Company does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law. Non-GAAP Financial Measures This press release refers to 'Adjusted EBITDA' which is a non-GAAP financial measure that does not have a standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP. The Company's presentation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. 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