Hanover
There have been only about 50 cases diagnosed nationally since 2000, said Dr. Elizabeth Talbot, an assistant professor of infectious disease at Geisel School of Medicine.
This virus is primarily adapted to infecting deer, said Talbot, who is also a deputy state epidemiologist.
“It’s very rare in humans,” she said. People are “only accidentally infected.”
This recent case is only the third recorded JCV case in New Hampshire and involves a Hanover resident who is out of the hospital and recovering.
The first was in 2013 and the second in 2015, according to a DHHS health alert disseminated to health care providers on Friday.
Since the beginning of this year, 14 cases of JCV have been reported nationally.
The Hanover resident’s diagnosis follows a case in Maine earlier this summer.
An adult in Kennebec County began developing symptoms in June and was hospitalized, but later was able to return home to recover, according to a news release last month from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
There have not been any cases of JCV in Vermont, though the state does monitor for such diseases, said Ben Truman, a spokesman for the Vermont Department of Health.
Because there have been so few documented cases overall, it’s difficult to know whether JCV is on the rise and, if so, what might be driving the increase, Talbot said.
“Climate change may be favorable for some of these … diseases,” she said. “That remains to be seen.”
But, Dr. Benjamin Chan, the state’s epidemiologist, said that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopted a new form of testing in 2013, and it was at that time that more cases of JCV were detected around the country.
The “more we test for it, the more we find it,” he said.
Though most infections are either asymptomatic or result in a mild fever, JCV can infect the nervous system and cause inflammation in the brain and spinal cord, according to DHHS. There is no specific treatment for the virus, but providers can offer supportive care such as hydration while patients recover, Chan said.
Part of the reason DHHS sent out information about JCV on Friday is because officials believe the Hanover resident contracted the illness in New Hampshire, Chan said.
DHHS sent out the alert to providers to remind them to test for JCV when a patient comes to them exhibiting symptoms such as fever or infections of the brain and spinal cord, Chan said.
“Generally speaking (JCV) is not one that’s been on a lot of people’s radar,” he said.
Officials hope this recent case will remind people of the importance of avoiding insect bites, he said.
Other better-known, mosquito-borne diseases with potentially serious complications include West Nile Virus and Eastern equine encephalitis. Tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease are also possible risks.
People in our region tend to think of bug bites as annoyances, but they have the potential to carry serious illnesses, said Talbot.
“We need a culture shift with regard to tolerating insect bites,” she said.
To avoid bites, Talbot recommends that people apply DEET to their skin and permethrin to their clothing. Another tactic is to stay indoors or at least behind a screen while bugs are biting, she said.
DHHS also recommends wearing long sleeves and long pants at dawn and dusk, and draining standing water where mosquitoes might reproduce.
“These are preventable diseases for adults and children and everybody who’s vulnerable to them by being outside,” Talbot said.
Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
