https://www.10news.com/news/tick-found-on-sorrento-valley-trail-infected-with-tularemia (See news story here)
by Allison Horn, Feb. 13, 2018
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego County public health officials issued a warning Tuesday about diseased ticks found on a popular Sorrento Valley trail.
Several ticks collected in routine trapping at Lopez Canyon trail tested positive for the potentially dangerous bacterial disease tularemia.
The trail is located between Sorrento Valley and Mira Mesa Boulevards, just north of Qualcomm’s corporate offices. Warning signs are in place for hikers.
Tularemia can be treated with antibiotics but it can be fatal.
County Vector Control officials say they have been finding increased numbers of ticks around the County this year. The insects found in Sorrento Valley are the only ones that have tested positive for any disease.
Ticks crawl on vegetation and latch on to passing animals and people, then bite and feed on blood.
County public health officials advise anyone who is bitten to carefully remove the tick. If they develop a rash or fever in the weeks after a bite, they should see a doctor.
The County has recommendations for you to stay safe.
- Wear insect repellent
- Stay on designated pathways
- Check your clothing and pets for ticks
- Leave pets at home or keep them leashed
- Check clothing and gear when you get home
- Don’t panic if you’re bitten
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**Comment**
More on Tularemia: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/25/of-rabbits-and-men/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-S073386350400018X/first-page-pdf Fortunately, there is no clearly established historic use of tularemia as a weapon, although tularemia has successfully been weaponized by select nations. Certain characteristics of tularemia categorize it as a high-risk threat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_biological_weapons_program A little history…..
Tularemia was allegedly used against German troops in 1942 near Stalingrad.[3] Around 10,000 cases of tularemia had been reported in the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1943. However, the number of cases jumped to more than 100,000 in the year of the Stalingrad outbreak. German Panzer troops fell ill in such significant numbers during the late summer of 1942 that the German military campaign came to a temporary halt. German soldiers became ill with the rare pulmonary form of tularemia, which may indicate the use of an aerosol biological weapon (the ordinary transmission pathway is through ticks and rodents). According to Kenneth Alibek, the used tularemia weapon had been developed in the Kirov military facility.[3] It was suggested by some, however, that the outbreak might have been of natural origin, since a pulmonary form of tularemia has also been noted in natural outbreaks in Martha’s Vineyard in 2000.[6]
In the Soviet Union, the outbreak at Stalingrad was described as a natural outbreak. Crops were left in the field during the German offensive and the rodent population swelled, putting many inhabitants into contact with infected rodents. In some parts of the Stalingrad Oblast, as many as 75% of the inhabitants became infected. It was also noted that before the war, there was a so-called “threshing tularemia”, caused by people inhaling infected dusts soiled by rodents while threshing grain.[7]
At the conclusion of the war, Soviet troops invading Manchuria captured many Unit 731 Japanese scientists and learned of their extensive human experimentation through captured documents and prisoner interrogations…..
But don’t panic….. ha, ha, ha
