Archive for the ‘research’ Category

With Three Invasive Tick Species Thriving in Connecticut, State Scientist Warns of Major Public Health Hazard

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-ct-more-ticks-20210816-eafwrhehkbhspacc7r5qrw4m4m-story.html

With three invasive tick species thriving in Connecticut, state scientist warns of major public health hazard

By 
HARTFORD COURANT 
AUG 16, 2021 
Stratford, Ct. - 08/13/2021 - Dr. Goudarz Molaei, with Connecticut's Agricultural Experiment Station, searches for ticks trapped on a canvas dragged through shoreline vegetation. Photograph by Mark Mirko | mmirko@courant.com
Stratford, Ct. – 08/13/2021 – Dr. Goudarz Molaei, with Connecticut’s Agricultural Experiment Station, searches for ticks trapped on a canvas dragged through shoreline vegetation. Photograph by Mark Mirko | mmirko@courant.com (Mark Mirko/The Hartford Courant)

State scientist Goudarz Molaei pulled a square of cloth through brush and grass on the Stratford coast recently, then stopped and pointed to a crawling smear of larvae on the white fabric.

The tiny arachnids were either Gulf Coast or lone star ticks, two of three invasive species, along with the Asian long-horned tick, that have recently established footholds in Connecticut.

First seen only in pockets near the coast, the blood-sucking, disease-carrying ticks have spread into other parts of the state. Compared with past years, many more worried residents and visitors have submitted ticks to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, mostly deer ticks that may carry Lyme disease, Molaei said. The tally so far in 2021 is 4,700 tick submissions to the testing laboratory, compared with a total annual average of 3,000 submissions.

Milder winters and warmer temperatures overall are helping the ticks survive and thrive in Connecticut.

“This is going to be a major public health concern in the near future, if it is not already,” Molaei said.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Important takeaways:

  • Previously only .2% of submitted ticks were lone star ticks which increased to 4.2% this year. They transmit ehrlichiosis, STARI, spotted fever rickettsiosis, tularemia, Alpha-gal allergy, and Heartland and Bourbon Viruses.
  • The researcher states that it’s a matter of time before the entire state of Connecticut will be infested with Asian long-horned tick – the tick that can reproduce by cloning. It is supposedly less attracted to human skin but can spread diseases that make both animals and humans seriously ill.
  • The Gulf Coast tick overwintered successfully in Connecticut but currently is limited to coastal areas.  Thirty percent tested there were infected with rickettsiosis, which is similar to but less serious than Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
  • The deer tick, or blacklegged tick transmits Lyme disease and is active any time temperatures are above freezing.  All life stages bite humans.
  • The following percentages of ticks were sent to the Experiment Station this year:
    • 72.8% deer ticks (32% were positive for Lyme, 10% for Babesia, 4% for Anaplasmosis – and 2% tested positive for at least 2 disease agents concurrently)
    • 23.1% American dog ticks
    • the rest were lone star ticks

Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, research, Rickettsia, Testing, Ticks, Tularemia, Viruses

Asian Longhorned Tick Confirmed in Missouri

https://agriculture.mo.gov/news/newsitem/uuid/2510b251-b71d-4107-8d0b-45455a8d9834/asian-longhorned-tick-confirmed-in-missouri

News Release
Home » News » 2021 » Asian Longhorned Tick Confirmed in Missouri

July 27, 2021

Asian Longhorned Tick Confirmed in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY —The Missouri Department of Agriculture, working in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and Missouri State University, has confirmed the first finding of an Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis) in Missouri. Missouri becomes the 16th state with a presence of the tick species, following the first confirmed report of the Asian longhorned tick in the United States in 2017.

Asian longhorned ticks are light brown in color and are very small, often smaller than a sesame seed. Unlike other ticks, a single female Asian longhorned tick can produce offspring (as many as 1,000 at a time) without mating. That means individual animals could host thousands of ticks, which can cause great stress on a heavily infested animal.

The Department encourages producers to continue protective measures and to check their livestock regularly for ticks. Keeping grass and weeds trimmed and clearing away brush are important tick prevention practices. If you spot any unusual looking ticks or large infestations on your animals, contact your local veterinarian.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the Asian longhorned tick appears to be less attracted to human skin. However, ticks of any kind should be removed immediately, as they can carry diseases that affect human health. Use EPA-approved insect repellent when you will be in or near tall grasses or wooded areas.

Research on the presence of tick species in Missouri continues through a partnership between the Missouri Department of Conservation and A.T. Still University. Residents are asked to send ticks to the University through September 2022 so that University researchers can study the distribution of ticks in Missouri and any human pathogens transmitted by those ticks. For more information, or to find out how to submit a sample, visit Missouri ticks and tick-borne pathogen surveillance (atsu.edu).

To learn more about the Missouri Department of Agriculture, please visit Agriculture.Mo.Gov.

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**Comment**

It spreads SFTS (sever fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome), “an emerging hemorrhagic fever,” causing fever, fatigue, headache, nausea, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, disease of the lymph nodes, and conjunctival congestion, but the potential impact of this tick on tickborne illness is not yet known. In other parts of the world, this Longhorned tick, also called the East Asian or bush tick, has been associated with several tickborne diseases, such as spotted fever rickettsioses, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme Disease.

For a 2016 literature review on SFTS:http://infectious-diseases-and-treatment.imedpub.com/research-advances-on-epidemiology-of-severefever-with-thrombocytopenia-syndrome-asystematic-review-of-the-literature.php?aid=17986
Although the clinical symptoms of SFTS and HGA are similar to each other, but the treatment methods of the two diseases are totally different. Doctors notice that the biggest difference between the clinical symptom of SFTS and HGA is that SFTS patients generally without skin rash, the dermorrhagia is also not seriously, and few massive hemorrhage cases were reported [23]. It is also reported that SFTS patients had gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, which are rarely observed in HGA patients [2]. So these differences can be used as the auxiliary basis of differential diagnosis.

At present, there is still no specific vaccine or antiviral therapy for SFTSV infection. Supportive treatment, including plasma, platelet, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF), recombinant human interleukin 11, and gamma globulin is the most essential part of case treatment [44]. Meanwhile, some measures were taken to maintain water, electrolyte balance and treat complications are also very important.
Ribavirin is reported to be effective for treating Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) infections and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, but it is still inadequate to judge the effect of ribavirin on SFTS patients because of the study limitation without adequate parameters were investigated [45]. Host immune responses play an important role in determining the severity and clinical outcome in patients with infection by SFTSV.

For Viral treatment options: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/03/28/combating-viruses/

And lastly, please know ticks parasitize one another, potentially spreading all manner of diseases to humans. This fact also shoots holes in the regurgitated mantra that only certain ticks carry certain pathogens.  If they are feasting on one another, they can potentially infect each other and then us: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/07/tick-bites-tick-hyperparasitism/

Also, over time, ticks can acquire the ability to transmit pathogens they didn’t transmit before.

Category:

research, Ticks

Study Shows American Dog Ticks in Western U.S. Are a Separate Species

https://entomologytoday.org/2021/08/25/american-dog-ticks-western-new-species-dermacentor-similis/

Study Shows American Dog Ticks in Western U.S. Are a Separate Species

Dermacentor similis, male

Researchers have split the medically important American dog tick into two species: the existing Dermacentor variabilis in eastern states and the newly described Dermacentor similis west of the Rocky Mountains. An adult male D. similis tick is shown here. (Photo courtesy of Paula Lado, Ph.D.)

By Melissa Mayer

Melissa Mayer

Melissa Mayer

Rocky Mountain spotted fever spreads when Rickettsia rickettsia bacteria pour into a bite wound while an American dog tick takes a blood meal. Unlike some other tick-borne diseases, which require a longer bite to transmit, Rocky Mountain spotted fever infection may take place within the first 30 minutes of the tick bite.

The distribution of the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis) in the United States is a wide yet broken one. It’s mostly found throughout the central and eastern parts of the country—with a few western populations all the way on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. But are these widely separated populations really the same species?

In a study published this month in the Journal of Medical Entomology, a team of researchers at Ohio State University used an integrative taxonomy approach—looking at both physical and genetic evidence—to determine that the ticks formerly known as Dermacentor variabilis in the west are a new species, which they’ve named Dermacentor similis.

Wild, Wild West

Paula Lado, Ph.D.

Paula Lado, Ph.D.

“We were working on other aspects related to Dermacentor evolution and phylogenetics, and our results consistently showed a separation between populations from the western states and all other locations eastern of the Rockies,” says lead author Paula Lado, Ph.D., who is now with the Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases at Colorado State University. “And that had been shown in other studies in the past, so we decided to explore the topic in depth.”

Dermacentor tick collection locations

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

The study also found that ticks from Wisconsin and Michigan formed a small subcluster in the eastern group, which means there’s probably some variation there.

The difference between these ticks is in the minutia.  They both will happily infect you. While taxonomy considers this a “win” it’s just more research that doesn’t help patients at all. A tick is a tick is a tick.  All suck your blood and have the potential of transmitting life-altering pathogens into the human and animal body.

Important quotes:

And, because the American dog tick transmits the bacteria that cause Rocky Mountain spotted fever as well as other pathogens, describing a new species like D. similis means taking a close look at which diseases these ticks can carry and how well they do it, which is called vector competency.

“Splitting D. variabilis into two species may mean that they could be vectors for different pathogens,” Lado says. “In my opinion, it is crucial to determine the vector competency of the new species, D. similis. That will allow for us to know what pathogens are transmitted by both Dermacentor species.”

A word of warning on those quotes: all of these variables have been proven over time to be short-sighted as ticks can acquire the ability to transmit things they never used to transmit.  They have also been found in places they never were before.  Doctors looking at entomology maps have been misdiagnosing people for decades as the information is constantly changing, limited, and imperfect. Please see: The Confounding Debate Over Lyme in the South (Speilman’s maps)

Transmission times have been hotly contested for over 40 years. Mainstream medicine and conflict-riddled researchers and public health ‘authorities’ continue to doggedly state the party line that Lyme transmission takes at least 24-48 hours, whereas reality paints a far different picture, showing the potential transmission of Lyme (and other pathogens) can occur within a few hours.  It must also be remembered that minimum transmission time has never been determined, and some coinfections like Powassan virus can be transmitted within minutes. There’s also the sticky issue of partially fed ticks being able to transmit much sooner.

There is an absolute dearth of research on the issue of coinfected ticks and coinfected patients.  Does coinfection alter transmission times?  The coinfection issue remains in the Dark Ages, leaving patients and the doctors who dare to treat them muddling blindly through the process.  But, hey now we know some worthless information about the undersides of ticks!

Again, the only box Lyme/MSIDS fits into is “Pandora’s.” Trying to put a lid on this thing is completely futile.

For more:

Below is a picture of a tick, without food or water for days, and the thousands of eggs it laid.

Tick eggs

Ticks aren’t picky, and can show up in the wildest of places:

IMG_2121

636354599974837121-jcoyle-eye16059-1zz7fdgtyszqd-0lbizw1fg

Category:

research, Rickettsia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks

Lyme Disease: A Persistent Infection

https://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-disease-persistent-infection/

LYME DISEASE: A PERSISTENT INFECTION

woman with lyme disease infection holding her head
Chronic manifestations of Lyme disease have been described for more than three decades. In 1970, Logigian and Steere described 27 patients with chronic neurologic Lyme disease, who had been ill for up to 14 years. Some improved, some relapsed and others remained ill. [1]
By 
 

There are multiple studies indicating that Lyme disease can result in a persistent infection, causing chronic symptoms that may require treatment with extended courses of antibiotics. The National Institute of Health (NIH) conducted three Lyme disease trials, which validated the existence and severity of chronic manifestations of Lyme disease.2-4  The study’s patients were ill for years, an average of 9 years in one trial. Three of the four trials confirmed that treatment with antibiotics can fail. These patients reported severe fatigue, impaired cognitive function, pain and poor function despite antibiotic treatment.5

Some doctors have dismissed the possibility that a persistent tick-borne infection might underlie a patient’s illness,6 while other doctors believe that Lyme disease may cause a persistent infection and be an underlying cause of illness.7

Dr. Shor and colleagues summarized potential mechanisms for a persistent infection.

“Potential survival mechanisms of Lyme disease persistence include:

  • immune evasion
  • immune modulation
  • presence of subpopulations of persister cells
  • physical seclusion—within cells, collagen-rich tissues, and immunologically protected sites (CNS, joints, and eyes), is one method of immune evasion
  • biofilm generation is another recognized form of physical seclusion. Published reports document that Borrelia burgdorferi can produce biofilm in vitro and examination of infected human tissues demonstrated B. afzelii and B. burgdorferi embedded in biofilm.” [7]
Editor’s perspective: Patients are finding it increasingly difficult to locate a doctor who is willing to at least consider the presence of a persistent infection.
Related Articles:

Chronic neurological Lyme disease or co-morbid conditions?

What is chronic Lyme disease?

Long-term problems for some Lyme neuroborreliosis patients

References:
  1. Logigian EL, Kaplan RF, Steere AC. Chronic neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. Nov 22 1990;323(21):1438-44. doi:10.1056/NEJM199011223232102
  2. Klempner MS, Hu LT, Evans J, et al. Two controlled trials of antibiotic treatment in patients with persistent symptoms and a history of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med. Jul 12 2001;345(2):85-92. doi:10.1056/NEJM200107123450202
  3. Krupp LB, Hyman LG, Grimson R, et al. Study and treatment of post Lyme disease (STOP-LD): a randomized double masked clinical trial. Neurology. Jun 24 2003;60(12):1923-30. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000071227.23769.9e
  4. Fallon BA, Keilp JG, Corbera KM, et al. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of repeated IV antibiotic therapy for Lyme encephalopathy. Neurology. Mar 25 2008;70(13):992-1003. doi:10.1212/01.WNL.0000284604.61160.2d
  5. Rebman AW, Aucott JN, Weinstein ER, Bechtold KT, Smith KC, Leonard L. Living in Limbo: Contested Narratives of Patients With Chronic Symptoms Following Lyme Disease. Qual Health Res. Mar 2017;27(4):534-546. doi:10.1177/1049732315619380
  6. Wormser GP, McKenna D, Karmen CL, et al. Prospective Evaluation of the Frequency and Severity of Symptoms in Lyme Disease Patients With Erythema Migrans Compared With Matched Controls at Baseline, 6 Months, and 12 Months. Clin Infect Dis. Jan 23 2020;doi:10.1093/cid/ciz1215
  7. Shor S, Green C, Szantyr B, et al. Chronic Lyme Disease: An Evidence-Based Definition by the ILADS Working Group. Antibiotics (Basel). Dec 16 2019;8(4)doi:10.3390/antibiotics8040269

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For more:

If you haven’t signed Lyme Advocate Carl Tuttle’s petition, please do:  https://www.change.org/p/the-us-senate-calling-for-a-congressional-investigation-of-the-cdc-idsa-and-aldf/u/29506824?  The petition is calling for a congressional investigation of the CDC, IDSA, and ALDF for their mismanagement of Lyme/MSIDS – for their long denial of chronic Lyme and the damage it causes.  This denial has played out in patients not getting diagnosed and treated properly with long-term antimicrobials due to abysmal serology tests which are wrong 86% or more of the time.  It also plays out in the fact doctors who dare to treat outside the unscientific and antiquated CDC Lyme guidelines are hunted down and persecuted, making doctors afraid to treat patients.

The same government funded institutions behind the Lyme debacle are currently also behind the COVID debacle and need to be held accountable.  They have done many of the same things which has resulted in patients not getting the care they need.  These corrupt public health ‘authorities’ are the problem.

Category:

Lyme, research

85% of Turkish MS Patients Have Lyme – Study Shows

https://storage.googleapis.com/journal-uploads/ejbps/article_issue/volume_6_april_issue_4/1553939970.pdf

FREQUENCY OF BORRELIA BURGDORFERI WESTERN BLOT AND LTT POSITIVITY AMONG MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS PATIENTS FROM TURKEY

Barbaros Çetin* Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Izmir, Turkey.

Article Received on 29/01/2019 Article Revised on 19/02/2019 Article Accepted on 12/03/2019

ABSTRACT

In Turkey, Borrelia burgdorferi infections are not well known among physicians and almost completely overlooked. On the other hand, a small number of seropositivity studies (%3.3-%73) show that Borrelia burgdorferi is common in Turkey. There is no diagnostic biological marker in multiple sclerosis (MS). Only several clinical criteria used for diagnosis. These criteria are also compatible with other diseases. Lyme disease is currently among them. In the chronic phase of Lyme, demyelination can form and this can be confused with MS.

In this study 126 patients, between ages 17 and 66, with a definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was evaluated, and were found according to be found positive Borrelia burgdorferi western blot and LTT test results 108 (%85.72). Only 18 (%14.28) patients have negative test results.

The results show that LYME disease is very common in Turkey and LYME patients with neurological symptoms are misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

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Important excerpts:

Multiple sclerosis affects at least 2.8 million people worldwide.

Worldwide, MS prevalence parallels the distribution of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi, and in America and Europe, the birth excesses of those individuals, who later in life develop MS exactly mirror the seasonal distributions of Borrelia transmitting Ixodes ticks.

According to the one of the most effective scientific papers, written by 4 Norwegian scientists, 10 of 10 MS patients were found to have a cyst form of the Borrelia spirochete bacteria. No bacteria were found in a control group. The cysts turned into spirochetal bacteria when cultured. The studies conclude that all ten MS patients have been infected with a spirochete. Concludes that MS could very well be a chronic infection.[8]

Since 1911, more than the past one hundred years, several older but also recent autopsy findings linked to in many articles found that all deceased MS patients’ brains harbored living lyme spirochetes. Even when tests, notorious for their large percentage of false negatives were used on living MS patients, staggeringly many tested positive for active Lyme borreliosis.[9]

“Spirochetes in MS” (Buzzard, E.F.), Published in the famous Lancet magazine in 1911, revealed the presence of Lyme spirochetes in the brains of MS patients. Over a period of more than a century, more than 50 international scientific papers proving the MS-Lyme relationship have been published in prestigious medical journals.[16-111] If you follow the European Medical Literature concerning Multiple Sclerosis from 1911 to 1939, you may find that in France, Germany and England, there were independent researchers all observing similar things and coming to similar conclusions:

  1. Spirochetes are often found in conjunction with the lesions in the brains of patients who have died with MS.
  2. These spirochetes can be isolated and can infect many mammalian animal models; including: mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, and primates.
  3. The spirochetes could be re-isolated from the brains of the infected animals and be inoculated into more un-infected animals and re-isolated from their brains.
  4. Multiple sclerosis may often be associated with Borrelia infection.
  5. Points out that a considerable body of clinical evidence supports the concept that cystic L-forms of Borrelia burgdorferi may cause MS. 

For more:

Category:

Lyme, research