We document the first report of a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis Say, parasitizing an American Kestrel, Falco sparverius Linnaeus (Falconiformes: Falconidae), in Canada. A fully engorged I. scapularis nymph was collected from the base of the tongue of an American Kestrelnestling recovered at Mirabel, Québec. This nestling had recently fledged the nest, and was exposed to I. scapularis immatures that were host-seeking in the surrounding low-level vegetation.
DNA barcoding was used to confirm the identification of the tick. Primers of the flagellin (fla) gene were employed to determine whether the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) Johnson, Schmid, Hyde, Steigerwalt & Brenner, was present in the I. scapularis nymph; the tick was negative.
We provide the first report of I. scapularis parasitizing a raptor in Canada and, likewise, the first account of this tick species attached to the oral cavity of a bird. Moreover, this bird parasitism is the first documentation of a tick on a falconid bird in Canada.
Please read the article above, written by Melinda Wenner Moyer, edited by Pam Weintraub.
A brief summary:
Robert Moir, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, believes that beta-amyloid, a key player in Alzheimer’s, might be a good guy who is actually protecting the brain from pathogens.
This idea is coming from numerous corners of the world and has been labeled ‘pathogen hypothesis.’ Others pointing this out are pathologist Alan MacDonald, neuropathologist Judith Miklossy, and microbiologist Tom Grier.
Moir has published mouse studies showing that their brains create amyloid plaques within hours of contracting infections and they actually kill pathogens.
This observation flies in the face of accepted dogma about beta-amyloid and it is rarely discussed in AD groups.
A meta-analysis of 25 published studies has shown that infected folks are 10 times more likely to develop AD, leading international researchers to co-sign an editorial begging others to consider pathogens in relation to AD.
The author reminds the reader that infections in the brain are nothing new and a short list of them includes: Syphillis, Herpes simplex encephalitis, tick borne disease, HIV, Toxoplasma gondii, Chlamydia pneumoniae, HSV-1, and Zika.
The journalist also points out that pathogen causation is not proven and that Alzheimer’s patients might be prone to infection but that some studies suggest the infections came first. She also says that the majority of folks suggesting the ‘pathogen hypothesis’do not feel the infections work alone but rather can cause a domino effect that over time can accumulate causing AD.
And lastly, if beta-amyloid causes AD then removing these plaques should get rid of symptoms, but when 145 beta-amyloid-reducing drugs were tested, not one slowed progression of the disease.
Once again, proving a science cabal exists, Moir recounts how at a Korean conference, attendees were asked to raised hands if they thought infections played a part in AD and a majority of hands went up.
“Ten years ago, it would have been four guys in a corner, all huddled together, not talking to anyone else,” Moir says.
Uploaded on Dec 24, 2016 Lecture to American Psychiatric Association NY Branch, Lenox Hill Hospital
This excellent video has Dr. Jane Marke discussing psychiatric illness in TBI patients, and while the technical lecture is given to psychiatrists it will be highly illuminating to patients. If you only want to know about psychiatric symptoms associated with Lyme, skip to around minute 28.
Marke states,
“Many doctors are convinced that after a short course of antibiotics patients should be well. The huge number of people still ill years after a course of antibiotics belie this assertion.”
“Patients with Lyme, and related tick-borne disease, can have symptoms which mimic every known psychiatric syndrome. Treatment aimed directly at symptoms can relieve suffering rather quickly. These symptoms include insomnia, anxiety, “brain fog”, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depersonalization, depression, and rages. But antibiotics are needed to undermine the root cause of the illness: the bacteria that causes Lyme: Borrelia burgdorferi.”
Other noteworthy comments:
15:12 – Marke describes the flagella of borrelia is more like the winged arms on a wine bottle opener which powerfully propels the organism.
15:40 – She questions if psychiatric disorders are inflammatory diseases. She lists: Autism, Alzheimer’s, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, PTSD, Depression, Stress, Sleep Deprivation, Self-harm, and Suicid Attempts. She also describes a study in England observing children for over a decade in which children with a high IL-8 at age 8 have an 81% change of developing depression by age 18 and a 2-fold chance of becoming psychotic.
18:04 – She states that TBI’s (Tick Borne Illness) causes an impaired Hypopituitary Axis (HPA) which on a chronic basisdecreases cortisol and increases inflammation.
20:40 – Neurotoxins in the brain contribute to mental illness by causing problems with Homosysteine metabolism, which supresses remethylation, but that apoptosis (cell death) which can be reversed by supplementing with SamE.
21:30 – She says Post Treatment Lyme Syndrome (PTLS) is like a “dog whistle,” and usually demonstrates a bias on behalf of the authors who believe that 3 weeks of antibiotics cures LD. She then goes on to tell of a study that revealed that nearly 50% of those labeled as PTLS (with persistent symptoms) had anti-brain antibodies compared to 16.5% of Post Treatment Healthy Controls (no symptoms).
25:34 – Babesia and Bartonella are of extreme interest to psychiatrists.
*Bartonella produces most of the psychiatric problems as well as photophobia, floaters, blurred vision, bone pain, pain in the soles of the feet, headaches, the hallmark rash that looks like stretch marks, migratory polyneuropathy (burning, weakness, and numbness, on both sides of the body that moves around) and POTS (a fast heart-rate when one goes from a lying position to a standing position). Patients tend to exhibit OCD, self-mutilating behaviors, seizures, rage attacks, and psychosis (bipolar under this).
26:35 Persisting atypical and cystic forms drive local inflammation
28:23 Shows an excellent slide of the percentage of patients with late Lyme and various impairments such as Encephalopathy, memory issues, cognitive impairment, motor issues, and more.
31:15 She sites a study in which researchers set out to prove that there is no such thing as Late Lyme causing psychiatric problems. Compared to controls, chronic lyme patients met criteria for adult onset ADHD(both inattentive type and hyperactive/impulsive types combined) more frequently. She encourages doctors to take “syndromes,” and try to find an etiology, rather than the reverse, which is what is typically done. In this specific case, she’s asking doctors to question and try to find solid reasons (etiology) why an adult would all of a sudden have ADHD.
33:30 She says TBI patients are the worst sleepers she’s encountered. This is important because it is when toxins are cleared in the brain.
35:30 Depression is common in TBI patients.
36:50 She has an informative slide on suicides from those with Lyme collected from newspapers.
38:55 Shows a slide on Case studies of Intrusive Symptoms such as musical hallucinations, intrusive thoughts, Cognitive Tics, catastrophising, OCD.
41:00 Depersonalization, Violence, self-harm, and schizophrenia can be a part of the picture with TBI’s. At 41:20 she tells the story of a little girl who would throw horrific temper tantrums in which she would destroy her room and then feel absolutely horrible after the fact. She also had a psychotic episode. Her MSIDS testing came back flagrantly positive.
42:21 Autism – There is vertical transmission of Lyme from mother to fetus. Those with Bb in a study made remarkable improvement taking antibiotics.
42:56 Finding Spirochetes in Alzheimer’s patients as well as other pathogens.
45:18 She points out the CDC guidelines and controversies, including the very poor testing and the vilification of small labs. She recommends CLIA certified labs and that there is NO SUCH THING AS AN FDA APPROVED LAB. She recommends IGeneX labs as they report the bands to you and uses more than 1 strain of Bb.
48:17 She shows a SPECT scan with marked improvement after treatment with antibiotics for Encephalopathy. She also states that minocycline probably crosses the blood brain barrier the best.
According to Mary Beth Pfeiffer, an investigative journalist writing the book, “The First Epidemic,” which is about ticks and the diseases they carry, scientific debate on tick borne illness is tightly controlled by a cabal – most of which work at the CDC.
For patients, patient advocates, and medical practitioners trained by ILADS (The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) this is nothing new.
However, now Sin Lee, a pathologist and scientist who directs Milford Molecular Diagnostics, is speaking out about it as he has received numerous publication rejections when he attempted to rebut the oft repeated dogma that has ruled the medical world for decades regarding tick borne illness.
Lee believes the current standard advises doctors to take a “wait and see” approach and postpone treatment in patients until diagnosis can be confirmed by serologic tests.
True to form, Paul Mead of the CDC, denies, denies, denies this.
The Steere article which advocates a positive test before treating also says that in days to weeks spirochetes can spread everywhere.
Huh?
Even the CDC website states patients have symptoms before it has disseminated.
In other words, you win the lotto if you get the rash. If you don’t, well……
Running it to ground, Lee wrote that Steere, Mead, and colleagues“glossed over” the currently accepted testing that, “by design misses early cases” and requires patients to be tested twice, wasting valuable time. Lee says DNA sequencing that has published science behind it, should be used instead.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20231610 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21040573. Lee went to international journals and was published after the U.S. Cabal’s rejection.
Lee isn’t alone.
Marcia Herman, Giddens, adjunct professor at Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina states,
“There has never been a well-designed study to examine this issue,”in regard to 80% getting the EM rash.
Christian Perronne, physician on the infectious diseases faculty at the University of Versailles-St Quentin, France, states,
“If you try to publish a little bit different from the guidelines, it’s anti-science.”
And, Lyme literate physician Raphael Stricker goes on record,
“The primer propagates one of the biggest myths about Lyme disease diagnosis instead of acknowledging the dreadful state of 30-year-old Lyme serology and the need for better testing.”
It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
But wait – yes it does.
Benjamin Luft, one of the physicians who wrote the original Lyme guidelines in 2000 admitted that he now agrees that Lyme disease can persist making it infinitely more difficult to treat as time progresses and that The Cabal’s continual emphasis on “false positives” is a red herring – and that early treatment has great benefit.
And lastly, Pffeifer spoke with Raymond Dattwyler, a 1994 CDC panelist that helped write the LD guidelines, who stated,
“Twenty years ago I would’ve said they’re fine. Now I say, ‘oh shit, we were wrong.’ It doesn’t look as good as we thought it was.”
Well, that’s comforting.
Please go here to read about other members of this Cabal who will attack anyone who defies the accepted narrative. They all have severe conflicts of interest.
The Lone Star tick is supposed to stop dead in its tracks below the Iowa border but increasing numbers of people are being bitten by ticks and developing the red meat allergy (alpha-gal allergy)usually pinned on the Lone Star tick.
What gives?
According to Dr. Alaaddin Kandeel, an allergist at Essentia Health in Duluth, he’s diagnosed 18 patients with alpha-gal allergy – 10 from northeast Minnesota and 8 from northwest Wisconsin – hardly accepted Lone Star territory. In the audio he states he diagnoses approximately 1 patient per month with Alpha-gal allergy and that the reactions can be severe, from passing out to life-threatening reactions.
And he’s not alone. Dr. Chris Cleveland, also an allergist but in North Dakota, has also discovered alpha-gal allergy in his Minnesota patients.
Elizabeth Schiffman, epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health says they get:
“sporadic reports of lone star ticks, but we don’t know of any established populations because when we’ve gone out and done our routine tick surveillance, what we really find are wood ticks….and then those black legged ticks, or the deer ticks.”
And while tick borne diseases are reportable by law in Minnesota, allergies like the alpha-gal allergy are not, so there really is no way to know how many are affected.
Is something other than the lone star tick causing the allergy?
Scott Commins, one of the researchers who first identified alpha-gal, states that researchers may be guilty of pigeonholing the allergy on the lone star tick due to the fact that there are now patients with alpha-gal allergy from all over the world where a variety of ticks are found. His current work is trying to identify what is in the tick bite that is causing the allergy.
He does have a hypothesis.
He feels that perhaps when the tick bites an animal that already carries the alpha-gal carbohydrate, something in the tick’s saliva triggers an allergic reaction when it then bites a human. He also feels genetic factors play a role. He states,
“We know that in some patients the allergy fades over time. There are others where this appears to be long-lasting,” he added. “The issue is we don’t know what defines the groups or how to predict who will end up in each group at the outset. It may depend on further tick bites.”
Another challenge is that the reaction happens hours after eating so patients don’t make the connection, and according to Commins it causes painful stomach cramps but not the usual itching hives that allergies are known to cause.
However, Suzanne Keithley-Myers, the woman featured in the story had hives that made her want to “claw her flesh,” as well as stomach pain that made her fear for her life.
Alpha-gal allergy was discovered 7 years ago and now there are several thousand patients diagnosed with it.
Commins also states:
“I don’t want to alarm people, but I do feel that there probably is legitimate concern that this may be something that is the tip of the iceberg (in Minnesota) with the cases that you have at the moment.”
