Man Died from Tick-Borne Virus After His ‘Brain Had Blown Up'. Now His Family Is Warning Others
Vanessa Etienne
Thu, May 29, 2025 at 4:25 PM EDT
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Medical tweezers removing a tick
NEED TO KNOW- Kevin Boyce was hospitalized in April 2024 with a severe case of Powassan virus due to a tick bite
- He died weeks later after suffering brain damage from the disease
- His family is now sharing his story to encourage others to be cautious about ticks
As the weather gets warmer, one Massachusetts family is sharing their heartbreaking story as a warning to others about a debilitating tick-borne disease.
In April 2024, Kevin Boyce was unknowingly bitten by a tick. He started experiencing headaches, vomiting and other flu-like symptoms that rapidly progressed. Days later, the 62-year-old collapsed in his home and was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston where he was admitted to the intensive care unit. Doctors diagnosed Kevin with Powassan virus, a rare and dangerous tick-borne disease.
Powassan virus is rare but the number of cases has significantly increased in the past decade. Symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, weakness, confusion, loss of coordination, difficulty speaking, and seizures. Severe cases can lead to inflammation of the brain (encephalitis) or spinal cord (myelitis). About 10% of these advanced cases are fatal, according to Yale Medicine.
Erin explained that despite Kevin being treated in the ICU, he ultimately suffered severe brain damage from the disease.
"His brain had blown up so much, from the encephalitis, and he had really bad brain damage," she told CBS News. "It was horrifying, but we knew what Kevin would want, so you know, we just had to let him go."
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A tick in the palm of a hand
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Kevin died a few weeks after arriving at the hospital, leaving behind a wife, two sons and a granddaughter. Erin said that she and her family are now hoping that sharing Kevin’s story will encourage others to be cautious.
"We just want the public to know what to look for and be wary of ticks, especially if you have one on your body," she said.
In 2024, 54 cases of Powassan virus disease were reported in the United States, with 12 cases reported in Massachusetts.According to the CDC, there are no vaccines to prevent POWV or medicines to treat it. However, a number of precautionary measures can be taken to avoid ticks.
To prevent exposure to ticks, according to the National Institutes of Health, wear clothing that covers your arms and legs and tuck your pants into your socks or put tape around openings in clothing. Wear light-colored clothing so you can see if a tick is on you. When you are in the woods, keep to the center of the trail, since ticks tend to like shrubs and bushes. Use a chemical repellent with DEET, permethrin or picaridin.
After coming indoors, check yourself, children and pets for ticks. If you do find one, use tweezers to remove it as soon as possible.
It takes a week to one month after the bite from an infected tick to develop symptoms of POWV disease, and the virus can be transmitted in as little as 15 minutes after the tick first attaches, according to the Massachusetts Department of Health. Shower as soon as you can and wash your clothes in high heat to kill any remaining ticks.
Potentially deadly bacteria found in invasive tick for first time in US
Angeli Gabriel
Thu, May 29, 2025 at 4:21 PM EDT
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NEW HAVEN, Conn. – As outdoor activities begin to ramp up ahead of summer, Connecticut officials announced Tuesday that they confirmed the first U.S. case of the invasive longhorned tick carrying Ehrlichia chaffeensis, a bacteria capable of causing a potentially deadly disease.
Known as human monocytic ehrlichiosis, or HME, the disease initially causes symptoms such as sudden high fever, chills and fatigue a few weeks after an infection, according to officials with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES). Symptoms may progress to include symptoms such as nausea, confusion and, ultimately, kidney failure and respiratory complications.
HME is usually spread by the lone star tick, which is native to the U.s. and found throughout most of the eastern, southeastern, and south-central parts of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
However, the recent case of a tick carrying Ehrlichia chaffeensis, the bacteria behind HME, in Connecticut involved the longhorned tick, a tick species native to eastern Asia.
States with established populations or reported occurrence of the longhorned tick.
This species’ role in carrying the bacteria and spreading HME is significant because the invasive species is expected to spread throughout the eastern U.S., officials said. They noted that this is due to the animal’s ability to reproduce without a male, along with its unrestrictive feeding.
"The first fully engorged human-parasitizing longhorned tick specimen was recorded by the CAES in 2018 from Fairfield, Connecticut, and the first populations of the tick were reported from this county in 2020," said Dr. Goudarz Molaei, director of the CAES Passive Tick and Tick-Borne Disease Surveillance Program. "Since then, populations of longhorned ticks have expanded into a number of towns in Fairfield and New Haven Counties. Additionally, individual tick specimens have been collected from New London and other counties."
Life stages of the longhorned tick.
Officials warned of the species’ ability to expand their geographic range and their potential to transmit pathogens that could threaten the health of humans, pets and other animals.
They noted that the longhorned tick has been found to transmit a variety of pathogens in the U.S., such as those that cause Lyme disease.
Original article source: Potentially deadly bacteria found in invasive tick for first time in US |
