N.J. confirms Warren County woman died from state's first case of rare tick-borne disease | NJ.com

Five months after the death of a Warren County woman, the state Department of Health has confirmed she died of a rare tick-borne disease never before seen in New Jersey.

Her death in early May was caused by the Powassan virus, an illness so uncommon that just eight other cases have been diagnosed in the United States this year.

The unnamed 51-year-old woman had developed symptoms that included fever, headache, a rash, and encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain. She was taken and treated at an unnamed hospital and died there, a health department spokesman said.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/rare_tick-borne_disease_-_new_to_nj_-_kills_warren_county_woman.html