http://outbreaknewstoday.com/leprosy-research-look-role-ticks-vectors-disease-28480/
Research looking into the role of (Amblyomma sculptum) ticks as vectors of Leprosy in armadillos and humans is being completed by Dr. Kevin Macaluso, MS, PhD Professor in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine.
He also recently won a Research to STOP Neglected Tropical Disease Transmission (R2STOP) award.
Published on Jan 28, 2017
Outbreak News This Week Radio Show interview with Dr. Macaluso
A certain species of tick may be able to transmit leprosy to humans. The species of tick called Amblyomma sculptum, is commonly found on armadillos and recent research has shown 50% of armadillos are infested with these ticks with an average 6 ticks per armadillo.
Since the research group does not maintain a colony of this particular tick found on armadillos, Macaluso is instead using Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast Tick) in the lab as a model even though it has never been reported to be on armadillos. This Gulf Coast tick does bite humans & other vertebrate hosts.
Interestingly, the armadillo is the only animal model able to mimic the symptoms observed in humans.
Mycobacterium leprae is not cultivable in vitro but two animals: armadillos in the U.S., and red squirrels in the UK are natural reservoirs of the bacillus.
Results revealed M. leprae RNA and antigens persisting in the midgut and present in the ovaries of adult female A. sculptum at least 2 days after oral infection, and present in their progeny (eggs and larvae), which demonstrates the occurrence of transovarial transmission of this pathogen. Infected tick larvae were able to inoculate viable bacilli during blood-feeding on a rabbit. Moreover, following inoculation with M. leprae, the Ixodes scapularis embryo-derived tick cell line IDE8 supported a detectable increase in the number of bacilli for at least 20 days, presenting a doubling time of approximately 12 days. As far as we know, this is the first in vitro cellular system able to promote growth of M. leprae. Finally, we successfully transformed a clinical M. leprae isolate by inserting the reporter plasmid pCHERRY3; transformed bacteria infected and grew in IDE8 cells over a 2-month period.
Taken together, our data not only support the hypothesis that ticks may have the potential to act as a reservoir and/or vector of leprosy, but also suggest the feasibility of technological development of tick cell lines as a tool for large-scale production of M. leprae bacteria, as well as describing for the first time a method for their transformation.
The author concludes that this new methodology will assist in screening of new leprosy drugs.
All of this is fascinating to consider since there has been a recent outbreak of leprosy in Florida as well as the fact that some leprosy drugs, Dapsone, and pyrazinamide (PZA) appear to be helping some Lyme patients. In this study, a 7-8 week protocol of double dose dapsone combination therapy resulted in remission in 50% of patients for one year or longer.
In fact, Dr. Horowitz reports that the Dapsone and PZA protocols have been the most effective treatment additions for resistant Lyme and autoimmune symptoms, with PZA being the most effective for dermatological manifestations of Bahcet’s and arthritic/granulomatous changes.
So the questions begging to be asked: are ticks playing a role in these leprosy outbreaks AND is leprosy playing a role in Lyme/MSIDS which could be explained by the success of mycobacterium drugs in some patients?
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 