Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Natural Compound Deters Lone Star Tick Larvae

https://entomologytoday.org/2017/12/07/natural-compound-deters-lone-star-tick-larvae/

Natural Compound Deters Lone Star Tick Larvae

by Leslie Mertz

lone star tick adult femaleA botanical compound called p-anisaldehyde has been found to have deterrent properties on the larval stage of lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum). The effects on nymphal and adult (shown above) stages of the lone star tick have yet to be tested, however. (Photo credit: Dr. Amanda Loftis, Dr. William Nicholson, Dr. Will Reeves, Dr. Chris Paddock, via CDC Public Health Image Library)

A naturally occurring botanical compound found in anise, fennel, vanilla, and cranberries is effective in deterring one of the major human and livestock pests, according to research by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS).  The study showed that the botanical compound called p-anisaldehyde fends off the larva of the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum), which is one of the most prevalent ticks in the southeastern and south-central United States. Not only does the lone star tick parasitize cattle, horses, goats, dogs, and many other animals, but it is also the most frequently reported tick species to bite humans in those regions of the country, and it can transmit diseases such as erhlichiosis, spotted-fever rickettsiosis, tularemia, and protozoan infections, according to Allan Showler, Ph.D., research entomologist at the USDA-ARS Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas, and lead author of a study on the subject published in October in the Journal of Medical Entomology:  https://academic.oup.com/jme/article-abstract/55/1/200/4344918?redirectedFrom=fulltext

“This tick is problematic anywhere there are a lot of host animals. For instance, on the east Texas coastal plains, you have turkey and white-tailed deer, as well as other large ungulates like feral nilgai antelope, all running around hosting ticks. That’s in addition to the domesticated livestock, such as cattle, that are ranging out there. So, anytime humans go hunting or hiking or otherwise go out into these areas, they might pick up a tick,” Showler says.

Making matters worse, all three life stages in three-host tick species—the larvae, nymphs, and both adult males and females—bite. The larval tick climbs onto low vegetation and waits (the wait is called “questing”). When a host animal happens by, it gloms on, finds a vulnerable spot, and sinks its mouthparts into the skin to begin feeding. “Once it becomes replete with blood, it will drop off and become a nymph,” Showler describes. The process repeats with the nymph questing, feeding and dropping off to become an adult, and with the adult repeating the process. When the adult female drops off the host, she lays her eggs. (In one-host tick species, such as the southern cattle fever tick, all three mobile life stages feed on the same host without dropping off.)

Showler has been interested in “more organic, greener, less-toxic-to-humans approaches for tick repellency and tick control, but when it comes to many of the botanicals, it’s kind of a crapshoot,” he says, explaining that many have not been thoroughly tested on different pest species. “I started out with a number of different botanicals that might bear something out in pilot studies. And while the other ones weren’t so interesting, p-anisaldehyde was.” He found studies showing that this compound disoriented mosquitoes but was an attractant for certain other insect species and was toxic to others. “It was really curious, so we decided to just give it a go on these ticks and see what happened,” he remarks.

Specifically, he and co-author Jessica Harlien, who is also a USDA-ARS researcher, tested various formulations and treatments of p-anisaldehyde on lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum). “What jumped out at us more than anything else was its deterrence or repellency,” he says. The two are different: A deterrent causes the target species to avoid a compound, while a repellant actually drives the tick away. “We’re pretty sure that p-anisaldehyde is a deterrent, at least on lone star tick larvae.” They also found that the compound is lethal to the ticks if they are immersed in certain concentrations and that exposure of adult females to sublethal concentrations reduced egg production.

allan-showler

Allan Showler, Ph.D., research entomologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, is the lead author of a new study reporting that a naturally occurring botanical compound is effective in repelling larval lone star ticks. (Photo credit: Allan Showler, Ph.D.)

So far, they have conducted all of their deterrence and repellency tests of p-anisaldehyde on larval ticks. “Part of the reason is the larvae tend to be more vulnerable because they’re smaller, so it’s a good place to begin,” he says, noting that they will start testing repellency on nymphs and adults soon.

“When it comes to botanicals, I know some people like to say it’s been done to death, but it’s the opposite. Actually most of the studies stop where we stopped: We make a discovery, but now someone else has to take the reins and develop it into a commercial product,” he explains. “What we’ve done in this study is report that p-anisaldehyde looks to have lethal (contact) properties on lone star tick larvae, and it has deterrent properties against larvae, but, as far as how it might be formulated and applied in an economically feasible way for use on humans or other animals, that is something that has yet to be developed.”

Beyond lone star ticks, the researchers are also running tests on other pest species, notably house flies and selected biting flies. “We’ve got some really good preliminary information,” he says, adding that they hope to publish those results soon. As another teaser of his work, he adds, “Without divulging anything, we’re working right now on something that, at least in the laboratory, is knocking these lone star ticks dead really fast. I can’t give any more details because we’re still in the middle of the study, but hopefully that’s coming soon.”

______________

**Comment**

This work is a year old but holds promise for action against the Lone Star Tick which is responsible for transmitting the Alpha-gal (red meat) allergy, ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Tularemia, and STARI, a Lyme-like illness that they keep insisting isn’t Lyme but every patient claims looks, acts, and smells just like Lyme.

More on Alpha-gal:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/04/arkansas-woman-develops-deadly-meat-allergy-after-tick-bite/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/08/novel-viruses-found-in-lone-star-american-dog-black-legged-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/04/in-tick-management-species-matters/

Category:

Activism, research, Ticks, Tularemia, Viruses

Lactoferrin for Lyme?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29669808

J Biol Chem. 2018 Apr 18. pii: jbc.RA118.003145. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.003145. [Epub ahead of print]

Lactoferrin is a natural inhibitor of plasminogen activation.

Zwirzitz A1, Reiter M2, Skrabana R3, Ohradanova-Repic A2, Majdic O2, Gutekova M4, Cehlar O3, Petrovčíková E5, Kutejova E5, Stanek G2, Stockinger H6, Leksa V7.

Abstract
The plasminogen system is essential for dissolution of fibrin clots, and in addition, it is involved in a wide variety of other physiological processes, including proteolytic activation of growth factors, cell migration, and removal of protein aggregates. On the other hand, uncontrolled plasminogen activation contributes to many pathological processes, e.g. tumor cells’ invasion in cancer progression. Moreover, some virulent bacterial species, e.g. Streptococci or Borrelia, bind human plasminogen and hijack the host’s plasminogen system to penetrate tissue barriers. Thus, the conversion of plasminogen to the active serine protease plasmin must be tightly regulated. Here, we show that human lactoferrin, an iron-binding milk glycoprotein, blocks plasminogen activation on the cell surface by direct binding to human plasminogen. We mapped the mutual binding sites to the N-terminal region of lactoferrin, encompassed also in the bioactive peptide lactoferricin, and kringle 5 of plasminogen. Finally, lactoferrin blocked tumor cell invasion in vitro and also plasminogen activation driven by Borrelia. Our results explain many diverse biological properties of lactoferrin, and also suggest that lactoferrin may be useful as a potential tool for therapeutic interventions to prevent both invasive malignant cells and virulent bacteria from penetrating host tissues.

________

For More:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/05/how-proteolytic-enzymes-may-help-lyme-msids/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/22/systemic-enzymes/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/03/the-invisible-universe-of-the-human-microbiome-msm/

Category:

Lyme, research, Treatment

Lyme Hangout with Dr. Cameron – How to Treat for a Tick Bite – May 8, 2018

http://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-hangout-registration/#form-wrap

Featured Topic: Guidelines for treating a tick bite

Doctors are divided over the best treatment for a tick bite. The Infectious Diseases Society of American (IDSA) advises a single 200mg dose of doxycycline for an adult patient and 4m/kg up to 200 mg for a child at least 8 years of age based on a single study. The International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS) is opposed to a single dose of doxycycline for a tick bite. There is no evidence that a single dose of antibiotics is effective to prevent complications of Lyme disease or co-infections. I will review what we know, what we don’t know and what I do in practice.

When:  Tuesday, May 8th, 2018 at 8PM EST.

______________

For more:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/24/one-pill-of-doxy-only-reduces-prevalence-of-rash-not-lyme-disease/

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks, Treatment

High-Resolution Ecological Niche Modeling of Ixodes scapularis Ticks Based on Passive Surveillance Data at the Northern Frontier of LD Emergence in North America

www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/vbz.2017.2234#utm_source=ETOC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vbz

High-Resolution Ecological Niche Modeling of Ixodes scapularis Ticks Based on Passive Surveillance Data at the Northern Frontier of Lyme Disease Emergence in North America

Soucy Jean-Paul R., Slatculescu Andreea M., Nyiraneza Christine, Ogden Nicholas H., Leighton Patrick A., Kerr Jeremy T., and Kulkarni Manisha A.

Published Online:1 May 2018https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2017.2234

Abstract

Background: Lyme disease (LD) is a bacterial infection transmitted by the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in eastern North America. It is an emerging disease in Canada due to the expanding range of its tick vector. Environmental risk maps for LD, based on the distribution of the black-legged tick, have focused on coarse determinants such as climate. However, climatic factors vary little within individual health units, the level at which local public health decision-making takes place. We hypothesize that high-resolution environmental data and routinely collected passive surveillance data can be used to develop valid models for tick occurrence and provide insight into ecological processes affecting tick presence at fine scales.

Methods: We used a maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) to build a habitat suitability model for I. scapularis in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada using georeferenced occurrence points from passive surveillance data collected between 2013 and 2016 and high-resolution land cover and elevation data. We evaluated our model using an independent tick presence/absence dataset collected through active surveillance at 17 field sites during the summer of 2017.

Results: Our model showed a good ability to discriminate positive sites from negative sites for tick presence (AUC = 0.878 ± 0.019, classification accuracy = 0.835 ± 0.020). Heavily forested suburban and rural areas in the west and southwest of Ottawa had higher predicted suitability than the more agricultural eastern areas.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the value of passive surveillance data to model local-scale environmental risk for the tick vector of LD at sites of interest to public health. Given the rising incidence of LD and other emerging vector-borne diseases in Canada, our findings support the ongoing collection of these data and collaboration with researchers to provide a timely and accurate portrait of evolving public health risk.

_____________

**Comment**

Just remember ticks can be everywhere and the high infection rates reflect that.  We can map ticks all the day long but at the end of the day it’s all about knowing they are moving into turf they’ve never been documented in before.

More on ticks:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/27/israeli-kids-get-lyme-disease-from-ticks-in-caves/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/23/tick-borne-relapsing-fever-found-in-austin-texas-caves/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/13/ticks-found-on-rocks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/17/of-birds-and-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/21/ticks-from-hell-survived-the-winter/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/26/forget-ebola-sars-and-zika-ticks-are-the-next-global-health-threat/

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks

Tick Control Program Reveals High Level of Infection in White-Footed Mice

http://www.pctonline.com/article/tick-usda-mice-infection/

Tick Control Program Reveals High Level of Infection in White-Footed Mice

Tick Control Program Reveals High Level of Infection in White-Footed Mice

A USDA study found a high rate of white-footed mice infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.

 April 26, 2018
Edited by Brad Harbison

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — A surprisingly high percent of the white-footed mice collected last summer in Howard County, Md, in an Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Areawide Integrated Tick Management Project turned out to be infected with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

The area-wide project in Maryland is mainly a partnership with Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks (HCRP) and University of Maryland. Other collaborators on the project include Pennsylvania State University, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Army Public Health Center and University of Massachusetts.

The high rate of white-footed mice infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, in Howard County — just over 50 percent of captured mice —was a little surprising to ARS project leader Andrew Li.

What was more surprising, according to Li, was that collaborators doing analogous sampling of mice in New Haven County, Conn., found an unusually low rate of infection of about 35 percent in 2017. More commonly, white-footed mice in Connecticut have infection rates as high as 80 percent

Lyme disease was first recognized as an illness in 1975 in Lyme, Connecticut, in New London County, two counties to the east. Today, about 95 percent of confirmed Lyme disease cases occur in 14 New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, according to the CDC.

Now, the tick study team is putting out brick-sized black bait boxes in which white-footed mice will treat themselves to kill immature ticks. Mice are lured into the boxes with an attractive food bait. As they move through the box, the mice brush against a wick that applies a tiny amount of the pesticide fipronil, which kills the ticks but does not harm the mice.

Use of the bait boxes is the next phase of a five-year project launched in January 2017 to evaluate several methods of tick control to develop an environmentally sensitive, effective and easily managed control package for suburban areas.

“Our goal is to identify an effective way to reduce tick populations and the associated spread of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, especially in suburban areas,” said project leader Andrew Li. Li is an entomologist with the ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. “We want to identify vulnerable points in the lifecycle of the tick, so we can have the greatest impact for the least effort.”

Other control methods being tested, individually and in combination, include the bait boxes, ARS-patented “4-poster” deer treatment feeders, and a bioinsecticide spray Met52. 

Mouse bait boxes are being placed near residential backyards adjacent to Blandair, Cedar Lane, Rockburn Branch and Wincopin Trail Parks, and the David Force Natural Resource and Middle Patuxent Environmental Areas in Howard County. Where Met 52 is used, it will be sprayed 3 feet on each side of the border between a residential backyard and the open park area at selected study sites.

This spring, the project also is repeating a mouse collaring effort that began last fall so individual white-footed mice can be tracked to see if the bait boxes change how the mice behave.

“Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases significantly impact the quality of our lives here in Howard County. Learning ways to reduce the risk of infection by reducing the number of ticks in our parks and neighborhoods would be a tremendous benefit to the public,” said HCRP Deer Project manager Phil Norman of the Department of Recreation and Parks.

The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research results in $20 of economic impact.

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Ticks