Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Congenital Lyme: Opportunities for Research Support

Opportunities for Federal Funding and Research Support for Studies on Maternal-Fetal Transmission of Lyme Disease 03-21-2021

Lyme Disease and Pregnancy: State of the Science and Opportunities for Research Support

Join us for an interactive webinar
Thursday, April 29
5:00 – 6:30 pm EST

Register Here

While it is widely accepted that Lyme disease is spread by a tick bite, it is less well known that the agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, can cross the placenta, both infecting, and causing harm to, unborn children.

CDC and NIH have recently acknowledged this crucial fact. Nevertheless, the dearth of published research on this topic has left patients, healthcare providers and caregivers to navigate a vast field of unknowns related to diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

In partnership with the National Institutes of Health to encourage new research in the field of tick-borne illness, this webinar will provide researchers the opportunity to learn about the application process and seek guidance from NIH program officers.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for established and early-stage investigators to build a foundation of research for a long-overlooked problem.

Agenda

  • Lyme Disease and Pregnancy: Why Research is Urgently Needed, Isabel Rose, Chair, Mothers Against Lyme
  • Epidemiology and Pathobiology of Lyme Disease: Implications for Research, Holly Ahern MS, MT(ASCP) Associate Professor of Microbiology, SUNY Adirondack
  • Maternal-Fetal Transmission of Lyme Disease: Research Gaps and Opportunities, Sue Faber, RN, BScN and President, LymeHope
  • NIH Research Opportunities for Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Diseases, NahidaChakhtoura, MD, Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Program Officer, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
  • Advancing Research for Tickborne Diseases: Guidance and Resources for Investigators, Maliha Ilias, PhD, Lyme Disease Program Officer, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  • Q&A and Panel Discussion

Register for FREE to learn directly from the source how to apply and gain access to newly available funds ($29 million) that the Federal government has earmarked for research in the area of Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

Sponsored by Mothers Against Lyme and Project Lyme

For more information contact

Isabel.Rose@MothersAgainstLyme.org

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research

New Study Predicts Changing Lyme Disease Habitat Across the West Coast

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/ttgr-nsp031621.php

NEWS RELEASE 

New study predicts changing Lyme disease habitat across the West Coast

Army of ‘citizen scientists’ collect more than 18,000 tick samples for analysis in study funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation

THE TRANSLATIONAL GENOMICS RESEARCH INSTITUTE

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — March 16, 2021 — The findings of a recent analysis conducted by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest that ecosystems suitable for harboring ticks that carry debilitating Lyme disease could be more widespread than previously thought in California, Oregon and Washington.

Bolstering the research were the efforts of an army of “citizen scientists” who collected and submitted 18,881 ticks over nearly three years through the Free Tick Testing Program created by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, which funded the research, producing a wealth of data for scientists to analyze.

This new study builds on initial research led by the late Nate Nieto, Ph.D., at Northern Arizona University, and Daniel Salkeld, Ph.D., of Colorado State University.

This immense sample collection represented a multi-fold increase in the number of ticks that could be gathered by professional biologists conducting field surveys in far less time and at a fraction of the cost. This kind of citizen participation — which in the future could include smart-phone apps and photography — could become “a powerful tool” for tracking other animal- and insect-borne infectious diseases important for monitoring human and environmental health, according to study results published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

This study expands on previous work in California and is the first study to produce high resolution distributions of both actual and potential tick habitat in Oregon and Washington.

“This study is a great example of how citizen scientists can help — whether tracking climate change, fires, habitat changes or species distribution shifts — at a much finer scale than ever before,” said Tanner Porter, Ph.D., a TGen Research Associate and lead author of the study.

Specifically, Dr. Porter said the findings of this study could help raise awareness among physicians across the West, and throughout the nation, that tick-borne diseases are possible throughout a wider expanse than ever thought before.

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi (sensu lato), which is carried by ticks, and in this study specifically, the western black-legged tick known as Ixodes pacificus. These ticks also carry pathogens associated with relapsing fever and anaplasmosis, which like Lyme disease can cause fever, headache, chills and muscle aches. Some patients with Lyme disease may experience a rash that may look like a red oval or bull’s-eye.

If not treated promptly, Lyme disease can progress to a debilitating stage, becoming difficult and sometimes impossible to cure. This may include inflammation of the heart and brain.

Lyme disease is the most common tickborne illness in the U.S., annually causing an estimated 500,000 infections, according to the CDC. However, even the most commonly-used diagnostic test for Lyme disease misses up to 70% of early stage cases. There is no treatment that works for all patients.

“We hope this study data encourages residents of California, Oregon and Washington to take precautions against ticks in the outdoors, and helps to ensure that local healthcare professionals will consider diagnoses of Lyme when patients present with symptoms,” said Linda Giampa, Executive Director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

Citizen scientists were encouraged to mail in ticks collected off individuals’ bodies, pets and clothing. They noted the time and place where the ticks were discovered, and described activities involved, the surrounding environment, and in many cases specific GPS coordinates.

Field studies could take decades to produce the same amount of data, said Dr. Porter, adding, “this citizen science technique could allow for real-time distribution monitoring of ticks and other relevant species, an important consideration with emerging pathogens, changing land-use patterns, and climate change.”

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This study builds on TGen’s “One Health Collaborative,” an initiative that uses a holistic approach to monitor the health of humans, animals and the environment, according to David Engelthaler, Ph.D., head of TGen’s infectious disease studies.

The study — Predicting the current and future distribution of the western black-legged tick, Ixodes pacificus, across the Western US using citizen science collections — was published Jan. 5 In PLOS ONE.

About TGen, an affiliate of City of Hope

Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based nonprofit organization dedicated to conducting groundbreaking research with life-changing results. TGen is affiliated with City of Hope, a world-renowned independent research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases: CityofHope.org. This precision medicine affiliation enables both institutes to complement each other in research and patient care, with City of Hope providing a significant clinical setting to advance scientific discoveries made by TGen. TGen is focused on helping patients with neurological disorders, cancer, diabetes and infectious diseases through cutting-edge translational research (the process of rapidly moving research toward patient benefit). TGen physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of both common and complex rare diseases in adults and children. Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical communities worldwide, TGen makes a substantial contribution to help our patients through efficiency and effectiveness of the translational process. For more information, visit: tgen.org. Follow TGen on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter @TGen.

Media Contact:

Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
syozwiak@tgen.org

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For more: 

Wisconsin’s citizen research effort:  The Tick App

Category:

research, Ticks

Babesia odocoilei Found in Canadian Black Legged Ticks

https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10030327

Detection of Babesia odocoilei in Ixodes scapularis Ticks Collected in Southern Ontario, Canada

by John D. Scott1,*, Emily L. Pascoe1, Muhammad S. Sajid1,2 and Janet E. Foley1
 
 
Pathogens 2021, 10(3), 327; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10030327
Received: 5 February 2021 / Revised: 2 March 2021 / Accepted: 4 March 2021 / Published: 10 March 2021

Abstract

Tick-borne zoonotic diseases have an economic and societal impact on the well-being of people worldwide. In the present study, a high frequency of Babesia odocoilei, a red blood cell parasite, was observed in the Huronia area of Ontario, Canada. Notably, 71% (15/21) blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis, collected from canine and feline hosts were infected with B. odocoilei. Consistent with U.S. studies, 12.5% (4/32) of questing I. scapularis adults collected by flagging in various parts of southwestern Ontario were positive for B. odocoilei. Our data show that all B. odocoilei strains in the present study have consistent genetic identity, and match type strains in the GenBank database. The high incidence of B. odocoilei in the Huronia area indicates that this babesial infection is established, and is cycling enzootically in the natural environment. Our data confirm that B. odocoilei has wide distribution in southern Ontario. View Full-Text
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**Comment**
 
Just last year, for the first time, Scott et al. confirmed the transstadial passage of B. odocoilei in black legged ticks molting from larvae to nymphs, showing it is present in all mobile lifestages.  These ticks are widely dispersed from common song-birds.  The question begging to be asked of course is whether Babesia odocoilei is a human pathogen.  Once again it would explain why so many aren’t testing positive for Babesia.
These important transmission studies are ignored but piling up by the week with all the newly discovered strains of coinfections that will never in a thousand years be picked up by current testing.
Transmission isn’t a sexy topic; however, and money for research continues to be driven by the climate agenda.  
 
 
 
 
 

Category:

Babesia, research, Ticks

Mapping Tick-borne Disease Risk in Wisconsin

https://www.sph.umn.edu/news/mapping-tick-borne-disease-risk-in-wisconsin/

A deer tick on a leaf.

Mapping tick-borne disease risk in Wisconsin

PhD student Austin Rau analyzed the cases of three serious — but lesser-known — tick-borne diseases in Wisconsin and found that they are increasing, moving, and varying over time across the state.

CHARLIE PLAIN | SEPTEMBER 22, 2020

Lyme disease is easily the most well-known type of tick-borne infection, but there are others that make people sick as well. Recently, a new study from the School of Public Health analyzed the cases of three other serious — but lesser-known — tick-borne diseases in Wisconsin and found that they are increasing, moving, and varying over time.

Austin Rau smiling in front of a tree.
Study lead author and PhD student Austin Rau

“Compared to Lyme disease, less research has been completed on non-Lyme tick-borne infections and awareness of these diseases is lower,” says lead author and PhD student Austin Rau. “If you ask most people, they couldn’t name what the second most-common tick-borne disease is.”

The study was published in The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and was co-authored by SPH Assistant Professors Jesse Berman and Jonathan Oliver and Associate Professor Claudia Muñoz-Zanzi.

For the study, Rau and his team examined patient data from the Marshfield Clinic Healthcare System, which serves north and central Wisconsin. They analyzed patient electronic medical records for the period of 2000-2016 for clinic laboratory results confirming or supporting cases of three non-Lyme diseases from ticks: anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis. All three diseases are bacterial or parasitic infections from the bite of deer ticks and can be difficult to diagnose. In most cases, the infections produce on-going flu-like symptoms. 

Rau used his specialized training in geographical information systems and spatial analysis to map where the nearly 3,000 patients diagnosed with the diseases lived in order to determine the risk of having a positive laboratory test result in those areas.

Anaplasmosis

  • 2,728 cases of anaplasmosis were identified. 
  • People in northern Wisconsin were at greatest risk for having a positive laboratory test result.
  • The risk area for anaplasmosis shifted from west to east the study years.
  • The years of greatest risk were 2010-2016.
  • June to August were found to be peak months for positive laboratory test results, with a five times greater risk compared to other months.

Babesiosis

  • 213 cases of babesiosis were identified.
  • People in northwest Wisconsin were at greatest risk for having a positive laboratory test result.
  • The area of greatest risk was in the southern part of the clinic’s territory at the start of the study period before shifting north and then west over time.
  • The years of greatest risk were 2011-2013.
  • July to August were peak months for positive laboratory test results, raising the risk for babesiosis by seven times compared to other months.

Ehrlichiosis

  • Only 15 cases of ehrlichiosis were identified.
  • The number of cases were too small to determine any significant trends.

“It’s interesting to see that the two diseases — anaplasmosis and babesiosis — had differentgeographic patterns of risk — why is that,” asks Rau. “It could be due to a difference in infection prevalence among the ticks for these two diseases. It could also be because of the movement of ticks and animals they attach onto, such as white-tailed deer.”

According to the researchers, the behaviors of people likely are an important factor as well, and activities, such as hiking and hunting, could increase their risk of being infected by a tick.

Rau says the study’s methods and findings can help healthcare providers in Wisconsin and other regions where ticks live to determine potential hot spots and better prepare for tick season.

“It’s helpful for physicians and public health workers to know the months and geographic areas that pose the highest risk so that they can expect and be on the lookout for cases,” says Rau. “It’s also good for people to know when and where their risk of possible infection is higher so they can take appropriate measures to prevent tick bites.”

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**Comment**

Updates:

Warmer temperatures mean that adult deer ticks are now active. Be sure to start tick checks whenever you have been outside.

https://www.wiscontext.org/encountering-backyard-bloodsuckers-tick-app-tracks

**Warning** There are a number of inaccuracies within the article.

Excerpt:

With peak tick season imminent in the upper Midwest, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are hopeful more people will download and use a free smartphone app that helps track and identify the tiny blood-sucking arachnids.

The Tick App launched in Wisconsin in time for the 2018 tick season, and more than 600 people in the state have downloaded it so far. The app is part of a behavioral study being carried out by researchers at UW-Madison and Columbia University in New York who are seeking to better understand where and how people encounter ticks. They’re particularly interested in finding out what activities people are doing (and where they’re doing them) when they encounter black-legged (or deer) ticks (Ixodes scapularis), which often carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

About 20-30% of deer ticks can be infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the disease-causing bacterium, explained Lyric Bartholomay, who studies diseases in ticks and other invertebrates in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine. Bartholomay spoke about the Tick App and tick-borne diseases during a May 29, 2019 interview on Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Morning Show.

For more on Wisconsin ticks.

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, research, Ticks

3 Lyme Arthritis Studies & How Our Immune System Can Fail to Shut Off When There’s An Infection

https://globallymealliance.org/lyme-arthritis-and-inflammation-shut-it-off/

A SUMMARY OF 3 LYME ARTHRITIS STUDIES AND HOW OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM CAN FAIL TO SHUT OFF WHEN THERE’S AN INFECTION.

by Mayla Hsu, Ph.D., Director of Research and Science, GLA

Arthritis is one of the most common symptoms of Lyme disease, commonly presenting as swelling and pain in the joints. Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which cause Lyme disease, migrate to the joints and create the arthritic symptoms. However, growing evidence implicates not only the bacteria, but the immune system itself as playing a key role in the disease. It’s an example of how something that should protect us can also be harmful.

Our immune system has evolved to help us get rid of pathogens like B. burgdorferi. But if it’s working like a finely tuned machine, the immune system should turn off when the job is done. Instead, research has shown multiple ways that the immune system may be failing to stop the inflammatory response after infection, thus prolonging symptoms that can be very debilitating. To study this in Lyme arthritis, synovial fluid surrounding the joints can be collected from patients. It is then analyzed for the presence of immune cells and cytokines, the chemical messengers produced by cells to help kill pathogens.

Some Lyme arthritis patients have symptoms that do not improve after antibiotic therapy, known as antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis. Synovial fluid from these patients has been previously studied for the presence of regulatory T cells (Tregs). These immune cells, which are a subset of specialized T cells, were counted because they act as an “off switch” for inflammation. It was suspected that one pathway to long-term Lyme arthritis may be through insufficient or malfunctioning Tregs.

In the synovial fluid of antibiotic-refractory arthritis patients, an average of 5% of activated T cells were Tregs, as compared to antibiotic-responsive arthritis patients, who had 12%. Those with fewer Tregs were less responsive to anti-rheumatic medications, their arthritis took longer to resolve, and a number of them required synovectomies, or surgical removal of inflamed joint tissues, to resolve their symptoms.

A limitation of this early study was that the amount of Tregs found in the patients before and during early B. burgdorferi infection could not be analyzed, since the patients were only identified after Lyme arthritis was well underway. Might higher pre-existing Tregs be associated with quicker recovery from arthritis? If so, the number of these cells could be used as a possible prognostic marker to help with treatment decisions.

One way to determine this would be to assess Treg cells before and after experimentally infecting animals with B. burgdorferi, since such an experiment could not be done in humans. A new study in mice used an engineered mouse strain called C57BL/6 DEREG to address this question. In these mice, Treg cells can be depleted when animals are administered minute, nontoxic doses of diphtheria toxin. This was done either before or after infecting mice, and results were compared to nondepleted mice.

The researchers found that depletion of Tregs before infection with B. burgdorferi caused earlier tibiotarsal joint swelling (day 10 after infection) than in non-depleted mice (day 16 after infection). Additionally, the Treg-depleted mice had significantly more joint swelling than control mice, and in fact, had a second wave of swelling that peaked at day 22 after infection.

The contribution of Tregs after B. burgdorferi infection was studied by depleting mice one to three weeks post-infection, and then comparing joint swelling with nondepleted mice. Although these Treg-depleted mice did have increased joint swelling compared to non-depleted animals, the difference in swelling did not achieve statistical significance and was less than in mice depleted before infection.

When the joints were examined for evidence of pathology, all of the mice whose Tregs were depleted prior to infection had lymphocyte infiltration into the joints and surrounding soft tissues, indicating the presence of immune cells homing to a site of inflammation. However, only a single mouse in the nondepleted group had a mild degree of immune cell infiltration on the surface of the joint. For mice whose Tregs were depleted one to three weeks after infection, there were no inflammatory pathological changes observed in the joint tissues.

Together, the mouse studies suggest that joint swelling and pathology were more dependent on the amount of Tregs before, rather than after infection by B. burgdorferi. But Treg function, not just abundance, may also be important. In other words, what do Tregs actually do to reduce arthritis?

Experiments that assess Treg function often focus on their ability to regulate, or suppress the proliferation of other immune cells. Tregs are also studied for their inhibition of inflammatory cytokine production. In one study of a limited number of Lyme patients, T cells, of which Tregs were a subset, were collectively cultured from the synovial fluid of either antibiotic-responsive or antibiotic-refractory arthritis patients. Tregs from the refractory patients were less able to suppress the production of inflammatory cytokines like interferon gamma (IFNγ) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) than those from the antibiotic-responsive patients.

These findings suggest that both the lower amount of Tregs, and the loss of their suppressive functions, may be why some patients have antibiotic-refractory arthritis. The study of Treg depletion in mice showed this tendency too. More studies are needed to explain how other cytokines may be involved in promoting an infection environment that ultimately, resolves or continues inflammation.

And, why some people have lower Tregs to begin with is also not yet understood – whether it is genetically determined or occurs in response to infection. But what is obvious is that the interplay between B. burgdorferi and the host immune response is complicated, depending on switches to turn inflammation on and off. More research will help us understand this regulation, and how host protection can possibly turn into harm.

RELATED BLOGS:

Lyme Arthritis: The Antibody Connection
Research POV: Lyme Arthritis and Peptidoglycan
Possible Clue to Lyme Arthritis Found in People’s Inflamed Joints

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For more:

Category:

Inflammation, Lyme, research