{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T21:13:21Z","timestamp":1792790001065,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,4]],"date-time":"2024-02-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707004800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"NEWVEC","award":["(CDC U01CK000661)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(CDC U01CK000661)"]}]},{"name":"Laboratory of Medical Zoology at the University of Massachusetts","award":["(CDC U01CK000661)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(CDC U01CK000661)"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Viruses"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Powassan virus is an emerging tick-borne pathogen capable of causing severe neuroinvasive disease. As the incidence of human Powassan virus grows both in magnitude and geographical range, the development of sensitive detection methods for diagnostics and surveillance is critical. In this study, a Taqman-based triplex real-time PCR assay was developed for the simultaneous and quantitative detection of Powassan virus and Powassan virus lineage II (deer tick virus) in Ixodes scapularis ticks. An exon\u2013exon junction internal control was built-in to allow for accurate detection of RNA quality and the failure of RNA extraction. The newly developed assay was also applied to survey deer tick virus in tick populations at 13 sites on Cape Cod and Martha\u2019s Vineyard Island in Massachusetts. The assay\u2019s performance was compared with the Luminex xMAP MultiFLEX Vector-borne Panel 2. The results suggested that the real-time PCR method was more sensitive. Powassan virus infection rates among ticks collected from these highly endemic tick areas ranged from 0.0 to 10.4%, highlighting the fine-scale geographic variations in deer tick virus presence in this region. Looking forward, our PCR assay could be adopted in other Powassan virus surveillance systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/v16020250","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,5]],"date-time":"2024-02-05T05:22:44Z","timestamp":1707110564000},"page":"250","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Active Surveillance of Powassan Virus in Massachusetts Ixodes scapularis Ticks, Comparing Detection Using a New Triplex Real-Time PCR Assay with a Luminex Vector-Borne Panel"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5240-9276","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guang","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8226-811X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eric","family":"Siegel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nolan","family":"Fernandez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Emily","family":"Bechtold","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Timothy","family":"Daly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0703-9250","authenticated-orcid":false,"suffix":"II","given":"Alan P.","family":"Dupuis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, Slingerlands, NY 12159, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexander","family":"Ciota","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, Slingerlands, NY 12159, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7175-6380","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stephen M.","family":"Rich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1419","article-title":"Powassan Encephalitis: A Case Report with Neuropathology and Literature Review","volume":"161","author":"Gholam","year":"1999","journal-title":"Can. 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