Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Ticks Carrying Disease Found to Be Abundant in Beach Areas, Similar to Woodlands, According to New Study

https://www.bayarealyme.org/blog/ticks-carrying-disease-found-to-be-abundant-in-beach-areas-similar-to-woodlands-according-to-new-study/

TICKS CARRYING DISEASE FOUND TO BE ABUNDANT IN BEACH AREAS, SIMILAR TO WOODLANDS, ACCORDING TO NEW STUDY

Ticks Carrying Disease Found to Be Abundant in Beach Areas
 
| Ecology, NewsBy Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

Ticks Carrying Disease Found to Be Abundant in Beach Areas, Similar to Woodlands, According to New Study

Study Funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation Also Shows Ticks in Northern California Carry a Diversity of Disease-causing Bacteria at Higher Rates Than Previously Reported

Portola Valley, CA, April 23, 2021—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced results of a study demonstrating that adult Western black-legged ticks (Ixodes pacificus) carrying Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, were found in beach areas at equal rates to the woodland habitats in parts of northwestern California. Further, researchers, who were testing ticks for up to 5 species of tick-borne bacteria, found that the collective infection rate of all species was as high as 31% in at least one area, which offers a different perspective from previous studies that tested for a single species of bacteria in a specific area or areas. Conducted by researchers at Colorado State University, Northern Arizona State University and Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), and published in the June issue of the peer-reviewed journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM), the research points to the need for greater education for both the community at large and healthcare providers about the risks of tick-borne disease.

“The high rate of disease-carrying ticks in the coastal chaparral was really surprising to us. And when looking at all the tick-borne pathogens simultaneously, it makes you rethink the local disease risk,” said Lead Author Daniel Salkeld, PhD, Colorado State University. “Previously, we, along with other researchers, may have missed the big picture when we focused our attention on investigating the risk of one pathogen at a time. Now, we have a new imperative to look at the collective risk of all tick-borne pathogens in an area.”

Researchers sought to quantify the prevalence of five species of bacteria—Borrelia burgdorferi, Borrelia americana, Borrelia bissettiae, Borrelia miyamotoi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum—in Western black-legged ticks (I. pacificus) across multiple habitats. Habitats included woodlands and grasslands as well as coastal chaparral, which is a habitat that has not previously been studied. Ticks may also carry viruses and parasites, however only bacteria were included in this study.

“Beaches and lizard habitats can no longer be considered havens from ticks. Based on this new data, we are now encouraging residents to take preventative measures in beach areas and encouraging healthcare providers to learn the symptoms of tick-borne infections beyond Lyme disease,” said Linda Giampa, executive director at Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Prevention of tick-borne disease is critical and ecology studies like this highlight the need to be vigilant anytime we are in the outdoors.”

This was the first study to characterize bacteria carried by ticks in the chaparral in beach areas. Coastal chaparral is a natural habitat for fence lizards, which have previously been found to carry a blood protein that kills Borrelia bacteria, although studies over the past 20 years have offered differing results.

Authors note that more research is necessary to better understand which animals may be hosts for the ticks in beach areas. It is speculated that the hosts may be rabbits, voles and/or the white-footed mouse. The grey squirrel, which has been known to be the primary tick host in northwestern California, doesn’t live in coastal areas. Additionally, the prevalence and role of the fence lizard should be further explored.

More information about preventing tick bites can be found here, and here is the link to the study: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00319-21

About the Study
Researchers conducted tick drags of public and private areas including California State Parks (SP), County and Regional Parks, and National Parks in in Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Sonoma Counties.

Aggregated across all sites, prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato alone was 2.9% (95% CI = 2.3-3.7%), and Borrelia miyamotoi in adult ticks occurred at a lower prevalence than B. burgdorferi sensu lato: 1.3% (95% CI = 0.8-1.8%). However, prevalence of B. miyamotoi in nymphal ticks reached as high as 17.8% (95% CI = 10.5-27.3, n = 90) in some areas. Presence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum was sporadic throughout the area with highest rates observed up to 7.8% (95% CI = 3.2-15.4%.).

About Tick-borne Disease
The CDC recognizes 15 tick-borne diseases, and there are at least 9 different types of ticks that carry these diseases. Tick-borne disease has been diagnosed in every state in the country. The most common vector-borne infectious disease in the country, Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. If caught early, most cases of Lyme disease can be effectively treated, but it is commonly misdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and unreliable diagnostic tests. According to the CDC, there are nearly 500,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year. As a result of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, more than one million Americans may be suffering from the impact of its debilitating long-term symptoms and complications, according to Bay Area Lyme Foundation estimates.

About Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public not-for-profit sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. It is also dedicated to providing reliable, fact-based information so that prevention and the importance of early treatment are common knowledge. A pivotal donation from The LaureL STEM Fund covers overhead costs and allows for 100% of all donor contributions to Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call us at 650-530-2439.

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Media contact:
Tara DiMilia
Phone: 908-369-7168
Tara.DiMilia@tmstrat.com

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Category:

research, Ticks

Humans Infested with Ixodes Ricinus Are Exposed to a Diverse Array of Tick-borne Pathogens in Serbia

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1877959X20304799

Humans infested with Ixodes ricinus are exposed to a diverse array of tick-borne pathogens in Serbia

Abstract

Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) pose a major threat to human health in Europe and the whole northern hemisphere. Despite a high prevalence of TBPs in Ixodes ricinus ticks, knowledge on the incidence of tick-borne diseases in humans infested by this tick species is limited. This study was conducted in the year 2019 on patients who presented themselves to the Pasteur Institute Novi Sad with tick infestations. Ticks (n = 31) feeding on human (n = 30) and blood samples from the same individuals were collected by physicians and a microfluidic real-time high-throughput PCR system was used to test the genomic DNA of the samples for the presence of 27 bacterial and eight parasitic microorganisms in Serbia. Except for one Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. adult male tick, all ticks infesting humans were morphologically identified as I. ricinus.

  • A high proportion of ticks (74%, 23/31) were infected with at least one of the tested TB microorganisms, being Rickettsia helvetica (54 %, 17/31) the most common pathogen, but
  • Borrelia afzelii (9 %, 3/31),
  • Anaplasma phagocytophilum (6 %, 2/31),
  • Borrelia miyamotoi (6 %, 2/31), and
  • Francisella like-endosymbiont (6 %, 2/31),
  • Borrelia valaisiana (3 %, 1/31),
  • Borrelia lusitaniae (3 %, 1/31),
  • Rickettsia felis (3 %, 1/31) and
  • Rickettsia aeschlimannii (3 %, 1/31) were also identified.

Despite the high infection rate of TBPs in ticks, only two human blood samples (6 %, 2/30) tested positive for the presence of TBPs, one patient (code H12, 67 years old female) was diagnosed with Borrelia spp. and the other patient was diagnosed (code H17, 71 years old female) with R. felis infection. The tick infesting patient H12 tested positive for B. afzelii, and R. helvetica and the tick infesting patient H17 tested positive for R. felis. Upon clinical examination, both patients were diagnosed with erythema migrans. No additional discomfort was reported by the patient and no additional pathology was observed by the physician. We concluded that humans bitten by I. ricinus in Serbia are exposed to a diverse array of TBPs with clinical impact in the Serbian cohort studied.

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Lyme, research, Rickettsia, Ticks

Lizards May be Protecting People From Lyme Disease in the Southeastern United States

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/lizards-may-be-protecting-people-lyme-disease-southeastern-united-states

Lizards may be protecting people from Lyme disease in the southeastern United States

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By Harini Barath

Lyme disease is one of the most devastating tick-borne infections in the United States, affecting more than 300,000 people each year. It’s also one of the most mysterious: The creature that spreads it—the black-legged tick—lives throughout the country. Yet the northeastern United States is home to far more cases than anywhere else. Now, researchers have identified an unexpected reason: lizards.

Black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), also known as deer ticks, carry corkscrew-shaped bacteria that cause Lyme disease. The ticks pick up the pathogens—spirochetes that belong to the genus Borrelia—when they suck the blood of animals like mice, deer, and lizards. In the next stage of their life cycle, the ticks may latch onto an unlucky human. But every host transmits the microbes differently. Reptiles are worse transmitters than mammals, so ticks that have lived on reptiles are less likely to make people sick.

The north-south divide in Lyme cases is a fairly sharp line right along the border of Virginia and North Carolina. Researchers have hypothesized that disparity in cases stems from ticks feeding on different hosts in the two regions. (See link for article)

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Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks

Ulceroglandular Tularemia

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2031676?query=WB

Ulceroglandular Tularemia

April 8, 2021
N Engl J Med 2021; 384:1349
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm2031676

List of authors.

  • Michael Buettcher, M.D.,
  • and Chiara Imbimbo, B.M.

A 5-year-old girl presented to the pediatric emergency department with a 4-week history of painful swelling on both sides of her lower abdomen. Pets that she had regular contact with included a cat and a dog. Six weeks before presentation, her parents had noticed a tick buried in her umbilicus and had removed it with tweezers. Five days later, the patient had fever, loss of appetite, fatigue, and redness around the umbilicus (Panel A). These symptoms abated after 4 days. At the time of this presentation, examination showed marked inguinal lymphadenopathy on both sides (Panel B). Treatment with oral ciprofloxacin was initiated for suspected ulceroglandular tularemia. Serologic testing supported the diagnosis; the Francisella tularensis antibody titer was 1:1280. Two weeks after the completion of treatment, there was a reduction in the lymphadenopathy. After an additional 2 weeks, the swelling had completely resolved.

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According to DHS, tularemia in Wisconsin is rare, with less than one case per year since 1980.  In 2016, a tularemia alert was given for La Crosse due to the death of three infected cats.  And according to this report, while rabbits are the main source of transmission in Wisconsin, aquatic mammals (muskrat, beaver), woodticks, upland game birds: (partridge, pheasant, prairie chicken), cats, squirrels, deer-fly bites, skunks horses, sick dogs which killed rabbits, foxes, possible skunk, mink, muskrat or raccoon are also responsible.  One case was recorded from exposure to a contaminated stream.  It’s been called “Deer-fly Fever.”

Category:

research, Ticks, Tularemia

Lyme Disease Has the Potential to Emerge in a Wider Range of Habitats Than Previously Thought

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-lyme-disease-potential-emerge-wider

Lyme disease has the potential to emerge in a wider range of habitats than previously thought

by Ali Howard, University of Glasgow

March 21, 2021

scotland
Lyme disease has the potential to emerge in a wider range of habitats than previously thought, suggests University of Liverpool and University of Glasgow research.

A new study, published in Emerging Infectious Diseases found that open, treeless habitats can support similar densities of infected ticks as woodland in the UK, challenging established knowledge of which habitats present the most risk.

Lyme disease—an infection contracted from the bite of an infected – is growing in incidence in people in the UK and large parts of Europe and North America. It is usually associated with forested habitats but over the past decade has, somewhat surprisingly, emerged on treeless islands in the Western Isles of Scotland.

Researchers from the Universities of Liverpool and Glasgow, in collaboration with NHS Western Isles and NatureScot, examined the different human and environmental factors which could have contributed to the rise of Lyme disease in the Western Isles.

Co-lead researcher Dr. Caroline Millins, a research fellow at the University of Liverpool, said: “Superficially, the habitats and the climate of these islands look very similar, yet the incidence of Lyme disease on some islands is 40 times higher than the national average for Scotland, while other nearby islands are relatively less affected. This is really intriguing from an ecological and public health perspective so we wanted to try and understand what could be causing this difference.”

For the study, the researchers sampled ticks from different habitats on islands with high Lyme disease incidence and on islands with low incidence to determine tick numbers and infection rates. None of these islands had any forests. They also analyzed survey responses from 522 local adult residents to understand the social and behavioral factors that influence when and where people are exposed to tick bites.

The proportion of infected ticks was found to be around 6% on islands with high numbers of Lyme disease cases, compared to less than 1% on islands with low numbers of cases.

On islands with a high incidence of Lyme disease, the researchers found that open habitats, including grassland and domestic gardens, had similar tick density and prevalence of infected ticks as forested mainland sites in Scotland.

Co-lead researcher Dr. Roman Biek, from the University of Glasgow, said: “This is a striking finding and suggests that microclimatic conditions in these open habitats, possibly driven by the milder oceanic climate on the Western Isles, can be as conducive to tick survival as conditions in woodlands.

“Our study highlights the potential for Lyme disease to emerge in habitats with a suitable climate other than forests so we should be looking at non-forested habitats more broadly both in the UK and globally.”

The survey results found that residents on islands with a high incidence of Lyme disease were more likely to be bitten by ticks, with most people being bitten close to their home or in their gardens. Residents also reported increasing problems with ticks, with many suggesting increasing numbers of deer, and deer coming closer to people’s homes, as a potential driver.

“When we visited the and attended community meetings, there were significant concerns raised by residents about frequent tick bites in their gardens.”

Dr. Millins said: “Our surveys support residents’ concerns and show that spillover of infected ticks into people’s gardens is very common. These findings can suggest ways we might be able to reduce exposure risk, for example by managing garden environments to reduce tick numbers. We have also started to investigate how deer move across the landscape and how that might affect where ticks are found.”

NatureScot’s Outer Hebrides Operations Manager Johanne Ferguson said: “This important piece of research confirms what many in the Uist community have been reporting for some time—that infected ticks are being found much closer to home. The Lyme Disease Research project is carrying out ongoing research into this, which will inform NatureScot’s work with the Uist community, the Uist Deer Management Group and others to find ways to reduce the tick burden in and around villages.”

Isabell MacInnes, a public health nurse specialist with NHS Western Isles said: “We are aware of the increasing numbers of cases of Lyme disease being reported in people living in the Western Isles, and we welcome the evidence provided through this research, which we will use to guide future public health actions.”

Explore further:  Tick behavior and host choice explains geographical patterns of Lyme disease prevalence

More information: Caroline Millins et al. Emergence of Lyme Disease on Treeless Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Emerging Infectious Diseases (2021). DOI: 10.3201/eid2702.203862
Journal information: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Provided by University of Glasgow

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks