Archive for the ‘Testing’ Category

Zoonotic Babesia Microti in the NW U.S.: Evidence for the Expansion of a Specific Parasite Lineage

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0193837

Zoonotic Babesia microti in the northeastern U.S.: Evidence for the expansion of a specific parasite lineage

 Abstract
The recent range expansion of human babesiosis in the northeastern United States, once found only in restricted coastal sites, is not well understood. This study sought to utilize a large number of samples to examine the population structure of the parasites on a fine scale to provide insights into the mode of emergence across the region. 228 B. microti samples collected in endemic northeastern U.S. sites were genotyped using published Variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) markers. The genetic diversity and population structure were analysed on a geographic scale using Phyloviz and TESS, programs that utilize two different methods to identify population membership without predefined population data. Three distinct populations were detected in northeastern US, each dominated by a single ancestral type. In contrast to the limited range of the Nantucket and Cape Cod populations, the mainland population dominated from New Jersey eastward to Boston. Ancestral populations of B. microti were sufficiently isolated to differentiate into distinct populations. Despite this, a single population was detected across a large geographic area of the northeast that historically had at least 3 distinct foci of transmission, central New Jersey, Long Island and southeastern Connecticut. We conclude that a single B. microti genotype has expanded across the northeastern U.S. The biological attributes associated with this parasite genotype that have contributed to such a selective sweep remain to be identified.

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**Comment**

More on Babesia:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/16/babesia-treatment/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/03/22/what-is-air-hunger-anyway/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/24/phase-ii-malaria-meds-100-cured-good-for-babesia/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/20/babesia-and-heart-issues/

Category:

Babesia, research, Testing, Treatment

Novel Viruses Found in Lone Star, American Dog, & Black Legged Ticks

http://msphere.asm.org/content/3/2/e00614-17

Identification of Novel Viruses in Amblyomma americanum, Dermacentor variabilis, and Ixodes scapularis Ticks

Rafal Tokarz, Stephen Sameroff, Teresa Tagliafierro, Komal Jain, Simon H. Williams, D. Moses Cucura, Ilia Rochlin, Javier Monzon, Giovanna Carpi, Danielle Tufts, Maria Diuk-Wasser, Jory Brinkerhoff, W. Ian Lipkin
James M. Pipas, Editor
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00614-17
ABSTRACT

Ticks carry a wide range of known human and animal pathogens and are postulated to carry others with the potential to cause disease. Here we report a discovery effort wherein unbiased high-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the virome of 2,021 ticks, including Ixodes scapularis (n = 1,138), Amblyomma americanum (n = 720), and Dermacentor variabilis (n = 163), collected in New York, Connecticut, and Virginia in 2015 and 2016. We identified 33 viruses, including 24 putative novel viral species. The most frequently detected viruses were phylogenetically related to members of the Bunyaviridae and Rhabdoviridae families, as well as the recently proposed Chuviridae. Our work expands our understanding of tick viromes and underscores the high viral diversity that is present in ticks.

IMPORTANCE The incidence of tick-borne disease is increasing, driven by rapid geographical expansion of ticks and the discovery of new tick-associated pathogens. The examination of the tick microbiome is essential in order to understand the relationship between microbes and their tick hosts and to facilitate the identification of new tick-borne pathogens. Genomic analyses using unbiased high-throughput sequencing platforms have proven valuable for investigations of tick bacterial diversity, but the examination of tick viromes has historically not been well explored. By performing a comprehensive virome analysis of the three primary tick species associated with human disease in the United States, we gained substantial insight into tick virome diversity and can begin to assess a potential role of these viruses in the tick life cycle.

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**Comment**

The article states the high diversity of viruses was not unexpected and that some of these viruses have not been found in vertebrates and are not likely horizontally transmitted but that they are phylogenetically related to human & animal pathogens.  They also state some of the viruses do not replicate within the tick but rather parasitize hosts within the tick such as fungus or nematode.

 

Interestingly, the black legged tick, normally considered the biggest player in transmitting Lyme Disease, also had three times more viruses than the Lone Star Tick.

 

Category:

research, Testing, Ticks, Viruses

Young Woman With Lyme Takes Her Life

https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/opinion/2018/04/06/familys-lyme-tragedy/493872002/

Family’s battle with Lyme ends in deep tragedy

Kaethe Mitchell Published  April 6, 2018

Our two daughters were ill for years and were misdiagnosed by countless specialists. Niki never had a tick bite that we saw nor a rash. Keara had a strange bite with a large solid oval rash around it when she was 2 years old; her pediatrician misdiagnosed it as a spider bite and she was never treated. Each child began to become ill around the age of 11 or so. Niki tested negative on the conventional two-tier Lyme testing and became sicker over the next 2 1/2 years until finally testing positive with IGeneX Labs. About a year later Keara would test positive with IGeneX as well. They both had Lyme, bartonella, and babesiosis. 

Niki tolerated most antibiotics, treatments, and supplements fairly well while Keara struggled with each one she tried. Niki had to drop out of her first year of college due to pain, brain fog and the brutal side effects of the treatments and, as she slowly began to regain part of her health over several years, she was able to gradually return to studying to become a veterinarian. Keara’s worsening condition forced her to drop out of high school and to take homebound teaching for a year and a half but she was able to return to school for her senior year to take just enough credits to graduate.

KEARA’S LIFE: Binghamton woman, 19, loved fashion, adventure

FORUM SET: Register today and attend Lyme forum on April 17 — and get answers: Editorial

Keara began working in retail and wanted nothing more than to be like her peers. She was devastated that she was unable to go to college. She wanted to travel the world but was riddled with pain and disability.

 In February 2017 she took her own life at the age of 19. Her sister Niki will never have her little sister by her side as her maid of honor when she marries one day. Her brother will never be able to sing and play guitar and piano with Keara again. We, her parents, will never see our daughter grow and thrive, all due to the misdiagnosis of her tickborne diseases that affected every organ and every system of her body. We will never wrap our arms around Keara to hug and kiss her ever again.

Today I came across a small plastic bag of Keara’s trash. Finding and holding the empty, discarded false eyelashes package I found in the bag knocked the wind right out of me.  The old makeup brush in there still has her precious DNA attached to the dirty bristles, doesn’t it? Perhaps there’s some scant remnant of her scent, her essence on the brush. Grief rises up unexpectedly every day, several times a day now.

The outdated and ineffective Lyme guidelines caused both our daughters such immense and unnecessary suffering and yet as parents the guilt that we could have, should have, and would have done more will always plague us. Why didn’t we insist on more specialists, earlier recognition and more treatments? Why weren’t we able to protect our children? Why did we trust the doctors and tests? Why does the medical community and the CDC continue to throw up roadblocks to prevent early detection and adequate treatment? How many lives will continue to be devastated?

 

Binghamton resident Kaethe Mitchell is a school nurse with the Binghamton City School District and belongs to the Southern Tier Lyme Support, Inc., https://www.southerntierlymesupport.org. The Poughkeepsie Journal is holding a public form about Lyme at 6 p.m. on April 17 at Marist College. Attendees must register in advance at https://tickets.poughkeepsiejournal.com/e/lyme. The event is almost sold out, and the Journal plans to carry video coverage of the forum on its website, www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

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**Comment**
Stories like this one are the unfortunate truth many families have to live with.  Suicide is a very real issue that needs to be taken seriously with Lyme/MSIDS patients.
Please support patients and believe them.  They are swimming against an ocean current of tidal proportions.  If this is you, please know you aren’t alone and you can get support.  Start with your local Lyme/MSIDS support group in your state.  For a great list:  https://rawlsmd.com/lyme-support?

Category:

Activism, Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, Testing

Pathogens From Ticks in UK Cats

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29558992

Parasit Vectors. 2018 Mar 20;11(1):201. doi: 10.1186/s13071-018-2789-5.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Bartonella spp., haemoplasma species and Hepatozoon spp. in ticks infesting cats: a large-scale survey.

Duplan F1, Davies S2, Filler S3, Abdullah S2, Keyte S1, Newbury H4, Helps CR5, Wall R2, Tasker S6,7.
Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Ticks derived from cats have rarely been evaluated for the presence of pathogens. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Bartonella spp., haemoplasma species and Hepatozoon spp. in ticks collected from cats in the UK.

METHODS:

Five hundred and forty DNA samples extracted from 540 ticks collected from cats presenting to veterinarians in UK practices were used. Samples underwent a conventional generic PCR assay for detection of Hepatozoon spp. and real-time quantitative PCR assays for detection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and three feline haemoplasma species and a generic qPCR for detection of Bartonella spp. Feline 28S rDNA served as an endogenous internal PCR control and was assessed within the haemoplasma qPCR assays. Samples positive on the conventional and quantitative generic PCRs were submitted for DNA sequencing for species identification.

RESULTS:

Feline 28S rDNA was amplified from 475 of the 540 (88.0%) ticks. No evidence of PCR inhibition was found using an internal amplification control. Of 540 ticks, 19 (3.5%) contained DNA from one of the tick-borne pathogens evaluated. Pathogens detected were: A. phagocytophilum (n = 5; 0.9%), Bartonella spp. (n = 7; 1.3%) [including Bartonella henselae (n = 3; 0.6%) and Bartonella clarridgeiae (n = 1; 0.2%)], haemoplasma species (n = 5; 0.9%), “Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum” (n = 3; 0.6%), Mycoplasma haemofelis (n = 1; 0.2%), “Candidatus Mycoplasma turicensis” (n = 1; 0.2%), Hepatozoon spp. (n = 2; 0.4%), Hepatozoon felis (n = 1; 0.2%) and Hepatozoon silvestris (n = 1; 0.2%).

CONCLUSION:

These data provide important information on the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens in ticks infesting cats, with the identification of haemoplasma species, A. phagocytophilum, H. felis and Bartonella spp. (including B. henselae and B. clarridgeiae). This study also documents the first report of H. silvestris in ticks collected from domestic cats.

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**Comment**

More and more is coming out about these same pathogens causing disease in humans.

Bartonella clarridgeiae has caused Cat Scratch Disease in humans:  http://jcm.asm.org/content/38/8/2943.full

Haemoplasma species (Mycoplasma) can be chronic in cats and cause anemia:  http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1098612X15573562?journalCode=jfma

Humans can be infected with Myco:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/16/mycoplasma-and-other-intracellular-bacterial-infections-in-rheumatic-diseases-comorbid-condition-or-cause/

As to Hepatozoon spp. (felis & silvestris):  http://www.troccap.com/canine-guidelines/vector-borne-parasites/hepatozoon/Public health considerations
Hepatozoon infection in humans has not been described except for a single case in which the species was not identified.  So it’s been found in at least one human.  The thing is they aren’t regularly looking for it.

Transmission route:  ingestion of tick vectors (but how’d the ONE human get it?  I doubt they were eating ticks!)

Clinical signs
H.canis infects the hemolymphatic tissues and causes anemia and lethargy. Infection varies from being subclinical to severe with lethargy, fever, cachexia and pale mucous membranes due to anemia.
Diagnosis
It’s diagnosed by microscopic detection of intracellular H. canis gamonts in neutrophils and monocytes in stained capillary blood smears. The degree of parasitaemia is directly proportional to the severity of clinical signs. PCR of whole blood for H. canis detection is sensitive and specific.
Treatment
It is treated with imidocarb dipropionate at 5-6 mg/kg IM or SC every 14 days until gamonts are no longer present in blood smears. The decrease of parasitemia is slow and usually requires several repeated imidocarb treatments.

More in ticks:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/one-tick-bite-could-put-you-at-risk-for-at-least-6-different-diseases/  (The actual number is 16 and counting)

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Bartonella, research, Testing, Ticks

Prevalence of Bb in Poland

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29575881/

Prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks removed from skin of people and circumstances of being bitten – research from the area of Poland, 2012-2014.

Gałęziowska E, et al. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2018.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: During feeding, the tick sucks blood from the host along with the pathogens that are in the blood, simultaneously exchanging its own pathogens with the host. Humans can also be a host. It is important to understand the most typical circumstances in which people might become infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. This knowledge will help to prepare health education programmes aimed at the prevention of Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to determine the percentage of ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, depending on the circumstances of getting bitten.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research material consisted of ticks acquired from people who had been bitten, and questionnaires completed by these people. 510 ticks were acquired from 257 females and 253 males. Following delivery of a tick for testing, the stage of its development was determined and a molecular assay of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA performed.

RESULTS: A positive result of the nested-PCR test was obtained in 78 ticks, which represents 15.30% of all ticks. The infected ticks were collected from male (41 ticks – 52.56%) and female subjects (37 ticks – 47.44%). The biggest number of infected ticks were collected in autumn (54 ticks – 69.23%) and from people who had been into forests (44 ticks – 56.41%). Among the people from whom the infected ticks were acquired, the dominating group included persons over 16 years of age (53 persons – 67.95%) and children aged 0-5 years (16 persons – 20.51%). One in four infected ticks were acquired from the southwestern (20 ticks – 25.64%) and eastern regions of Poland (21 ticks – 26.92%).

CONCLUSIONS: Infestation of ticks infected with Lyme disease spirochete in this study proved to be variable and depend on the season, the area of tick attack and the region in Poland. The results of the study clearly show that ticks infected with Borrelia burgdorferi inhabit all regions of Poland. The results are consistent with National Institute of Hygiene data which indicates that Lyme disease cases are recorded in all regions of Poland.

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**Comment**

Glad the word is getting out but what about coinfections?  When are researchers going to test for Babesia, Bartonella, Mycoplasma, viruses, funguses, and more?  While Lyme (Bb) is bad, the coinfections are just as bad and put them WITH Lyme and they are devastating.  This is important to know as it necessitates different drugs and until this is dealt with people are not going to get well.

For More:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/one-tick-bite-could-put-you-at-risk-for-at-least-6-different-diseases/ (Actual number is 16 and counting)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/16/tbd-serochip-will-identify-six-tick-borne-pathogens/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/03/cdc-deliberately-avoids-direct-detection-testing-methods-for-ld/

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks