Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

Sweden Reports Surge in Tularemia Cases

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/sweden-reports-surge-in-tularemia-cases-29406/

Sweden reports surge in tularemia cases

by NEWS DESK
August 12, 2019

By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The number of reported cases of human tularemia has increased significantly in Sweden during the end of July and the beginning of August, according to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, or Folkhälsomyndigheten (computer translated).

Image/Folkhälsomyndigheten

A total of 212 confirmed cases have been reported, significantly more than reported during an average year, officials note.

Most cases of illness have been reported from Dalarna, Gävleborg and Örebro counties, but the last week also saw an increase in the counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten. Since the number of illness cases is usually highest in September, the outbreak is expected to grow further in the coming weeks.

The animals most likely to carry the disease are wild hares, hence the name rabbit fever, aka tularemia and rodents, but it can also be transferred to humans via mosquito bites and occasionally tick bites.

Tularemia can be transmitted to people, such as hunters, who have handled infected animals. Infection can also arise from the bite of infected insects (most commonly ticks and deer flies); by exposure to contaminated food, water, or soil; by eating, drinking, putting hands to eyes, nose, or mouth before washing after outdoor activities; by direct contact with breaks in the skin; or by inhaling particles carrying the bacteria (through mowing or blowing vegetation and excavating soil).

Typical signs of infection in humans may include fever, chills, headache, swollen and painful lymph glands, and fatigue. If tularemia is caused by the bite of an infected insect or from bacteria entering a cut or scratch, it usually causes a skin ulcer or pustule and swollen glands. Eating or drinking food or water containing the bacteria may produce a throat infection, mouth ulcers, stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting. Inhaling the bacteria may cause an infection of the lungs with chest pain and coughing.

Tularemia can be effectively treated with antibiotics. Untreated tularemia can lead to hospitalization and may be fatal if not diagnosed and treated appropriately.

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/25/of-rabbits-and-men/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/02/18/tularemia-in-minnesotan-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/23/ticks-are-one-way-tularemia-can-be-spread-rabbits-are-another/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/28/after-tularemia-death-experts-stress-education/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/27/tularemia-infected-ticks-found-on-sorrento-valley-trail-in-ca

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/19/glandular-tularemia/

 

Category:

Ticks, Tularemia

It’s Time to Get Serious About Tick-Borne Diseases

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/its-time-to-get-serious-about-tick-borne-diseases/

By Mary Beth Pfeiffer on

It’s Time to Get Serious about Tick-Borne Diseases

The U.S. vanquished malaria and beat back AIDS, but Lyme and other illnesses are raging unchecked

In the article in the above link, the author compares the treatment of Lyme/MSIDS patients with how those with AIDS were treated in the 80’s. She notes that patients with tick-borne diseases are dismissed similarly to how AIDS patients were, and are labeled anti-science, and are summarily denied insurance reimbursement. The author also compares the fact there are over 11,500 studies on AIDS compared to the 55 for Lyme.

  • West Nile virus, which currently infects about 2,000 people annually in the U.S. received $42 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health
  • Lyme disease, which has 20 times the number of reported cases, got half as much
Evidently that number hasn’t budged in a decade.

She then aptly points out:

  • Zika, another mosquito-borne virus infecting just seven U.S. people in 2017, obtained $1.1 billion from Congress
  • Lyme, admittedly underreported, yet estimated to be potentially 427,000 new cases per year, received just $90 per new case from the NIH and $35 per new case from the CDC compared to $53,571 per new case of HIV/AIDS from the NIH and $14,054 per new case of HIV/AIDS from the CDC according to The Tick borne disease working group (TBDWG). The report states federal funding for Lyme disease has failed to increase as the problem has grown.  https://undark.org/2018/09/06/lyme-research-funding/

Unfortunately, the author erroneously states that the lone star tick has migrated due to the climate warming; however, research has shown warmer winters are actually lethal to ticks and that ticks are extremely eco-adaptive and equipped for survival: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/

Please be aware the author of the article is selling her own book about climate change and Lyme.

Independent research has shown that birds and photoperiod are behind the movement of ticks: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/ticks-on-the-move-due-to-migrating-birds-and-photoperiod-not-climate-change/  This fact demonstrates why tropical ticks are found in Canada and Canadian ticks are found in the topics. They didn’t walk here because the weather was nicer.

I agree whole-heartedly with the author that precious time has been wasted and that research funding is “paltry and static.”

I think we would disagree; however, on how research dollars should be spent.  If we are to truly “get serious,” we need to admit that the statically paltry research dollars need to go toward issues that directly affect patient well-being. I say, “NO MORE” funding on climate data which has not and will not help suffering Lyme/MSIDS patients. We need to start over with a blank slate. This complex illness is NOT what we’ve been told it is. There is much indicating it’s a STD, is spread congenitally, and potentially by other insects.  We still don’t have accurate testing that picks up ALL pathogens involved. We still don’t have adequate treatment. And, we still don’t have a means of paying for treatment. There are so many other important issues that haven’t been addressed in over 40 years when the initial outbreak happened.

If we are truly serious, we need to care where the research dollars go.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/13/lyme-disease-the-cdcs-greatest-coverup-what-they-dont-want-you-to-know/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/19/biological-warfare-experiment-on-american-citizens-results-in-spreading-pandemic/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/22/lyme-disease-medical-myopia-the-hidden-global-pandemic/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/01/why-we-need-to-stop-treating-lyme-disease-like-a-typical-infectious-disease/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks

Ticks Are One Way Tularemia Can Be Spread. Rabbits Are Another

https://www.lymedisease.org/tularemia/

Ticks are one way tularemia can be spread. Rabbits are another.

Briana-Zellner, tularemia

By Briana Zellner

Ticks can be hosts to many different infectious diseases including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. However, you may not be familiar with another important tick-borne disease called tularemia.

Tularemia, or rabbit fever, is caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis (F. tularensis). F. tularensis can cause life-threatening infections that often are misdiagnosed as the flu.

If antibiotic treatment is not started early, tularemia can be fatal or can result in life-long health problems, including kidney and liver damage.

During the Great Depression era (1930s), there were over 10,000 cases of tularemia per year in the U.S., linked to either rabbit hunting or tick bites. Today, about 250 tularemia cases are reported each year in the U.S. Worldwide, there are thousands of tularemia cases each year. F. tularensis can be carried or cause disease in over 3,000 different animals.

Tularemia transmission

In addition to ticks, humans can become infected by eating or drinking contaminated food or water, being bitten by infected mosquitoes or flies, handling infected animal carcasses, or even inhaling air contaminated with the bacteria (mowing over an infected rabbit burrow/nest). These different infection routes can cause different disease symptoms, making tularemia extremely difficult to diagnose.

If quickly diagnosed, tularemia can be treated with antibiotics. However, there is no vaccine to prevent tularemia disease.

As a researcher in Dr. Jason Huntley’s lab at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, I study how F. tularensis infects and causes disease. Using this information, our lab also works to develop new therapeutics and vaccines to prevent tularemia.

Every day we are exposed to millions of bacteria on our skin, in our lungs, and in our digestive tract. Luckily, we have specialized immune cells in our body that recognize invading bacteria, engulf, and kill them. These immune cells signal to other cells to alert them that the body is under attack so that infections can be quickly cleared.

Unfortunatley, F. tularensis is very good at avoiding these immune cells. In fact, F. tularensis actually can invade and replicate inside immune cells and many other cell types.

The bacteria have specialized proteins on their surface that allow them to invade and survive inside human cells. The bacteria also have a unique protective barrier, called the cell wall, which prevents them from being killed by our immune system.

The cell wall is a very important component of these bacteria. Think of it like a suit of armor or a bullet-proof vest designed to protect these bacterial invaders. If the armor is damaged or missing, the invaders are much more vulnerable to attack.

When immune cells encounter F. tularensis, they try to attack the bacteria and cause chinks in the armor. However, F. tularensis is very good at quickly repairing these chinks, infecting other cells, and reproducing to extremely high numbers – causing life-threatening disease.

Tularemia’s bacterial armor

Our lab has identified over 50 bacterial armor genes that allow F. tularensis to infect human cells and cause disease. Although these genes work together to protect the bacteria from our immune attack system, I have been able to use genetic tools to precisely delete only one armor gene to study.

I have found that these modified bacteria cannot replicate inside immune cells or cause disease in animals. When I examine these modified bacteria by electron microscopy, I have shown that they have abnormal cells walls – chinks in their armor.

Most importantly, I have recently shown that these modified bacteria can be used as a vaccine to protect animals from tularemia, similar to the modified chickenpox and measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccines that are currently used.

Although I am a long way from testing this vaccine in humans, the potential to prevent human tularemia is exciting. In addition, because very little is known about the cell wall of F. tularensis, my project has provided new information about how we can develop new drugs to attack F. tularensis and potentially other bacteria.

Briana Zellner is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences Biomedical Science Program. For more information, contact Briana.Zellner@rockets.utoledo.edu or go to utoledo.edu/med/grad/biomedical. This article was originally published in The Toledo Blade. 

Click here to see our Lyme and co-infections chart.

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For more:  https://www.lymedisease.org/516/  Tick-borne Mystery in Folsom, CA. Can You Say “Tularemia”?

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/25/of-rabbits-and-men/  Excerpt:  

Tularemia, in aerosol form, is considered a possible bioterrorist agent that if inhaled would cause severe respiratory illness. It was studied in Japan through 1945, the USA through the 60’s, and Russia is believed to have strains resistant to antibiotics and vaccines. An aerosol release in a high population would result in febrile illness in 3-5 days followed by pleuropneumonitis and systemic infection with illness persisting for weeks with relapses. The WHO estimates that an aerosol dispersal of 50 kg of F. tularensis over an area with 5 million people would result in 25,000 incapacitating casualties including 19,000 deaths.

Category:

Testing, Ticks, Transmission, Tularemia

Avid Hiker Meets Bad Bug, Ends Up With Babesiosis

https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/health/to-your-good-health/avid-hiker-meets-bad-bug-ends-up-with-babesiosis/article_

Avid hiker meets bad bug, ends up with babesiosis

Dear Dr. Roach • I am an avid hiker, and I live in an area with lots of Lyme disease. I recently developed some fever, headache, shaking chills and dark urine, and just felt awful. My doctor did some blood tests and said I had Babesia and/or Anaplasma. Are these related to Lyme disease? — I.J.M.

 

Answer • Like Lyme disease, babesiosis (caused usually by Babesia microti) and anaplasmosis (caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilium) can be spread by the bite of the deer tick, Ixodes scapularis, but neither bacteria species is related to Borrelia burgdorferi, the cause of Lyme disease. These diseases are not well-known by most people, nor even by many general doctors outside the areas where they are common, such as Wisconsin and Connecticut.

Babesiosis causes fever as high as 105.6 F, fatigue and feeling unwell. Dark urine is occasionally present. There are nonspecific lab findings, such as anemia and low platelet counts, but the diagnosis is confirmed by seeing the bacteria inside the red blood cells or by sophisticated blood testing (PCR). Treatment is with azithromycin and atovaquone.

Anaplasmosis has a generally lower fever, muscle aches, headache, chills and the same feeling of being unwell (called “malaise” in medical literature). Blood counts frequently show low white blood cell counts. The diagnosis is made by antibody or PCR testing, but treatment is usually started in the appropriate setting even before positive results. Treatment is with doxycycline.

Tickborne diseases may exist at the same time, so consideration must be given to people having both anaplasmosis and babesiosis, with or without Lyme disease.Doxycycline treatment for anaplasmosis also treats early Lyme disease, but does not treat babesiosis.

Both anaplasmosis and babesiosis can be very severe in people with immune system disease, such as HIV or an organ transplant. Older people are also at higher risk for severe disease.

Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or send mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.

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**Comment**

This article reminds us of issues that demand answers:

  1. Why does mainstream medicine STILL know so little about tick-borne diseases after 40 years? https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/22/early-diagnosis-necessitates-lyme-savvy-doctors/
  2. Why is testing STILL being used that is so unreliable after 40 years?  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/05/controversies-challenges-in-treating-lyme-other-tick-borne-diseases/
  3. Please notice the doctor’s wise usage of “usually caused by?” This is wise because it could be one of a number of strains of Babesia.
  4. Please notice the the doctor’s wise explanation that a tick bite can transmit a whole host of pathogens – not just Lyme and sometimes not Lyme at all.  This issue is what is completely being neglected in mainstream medicine because doctors aren’t looking at all for any of these coinfections that can come with or without Lyme. Since testing is abysmal for ALL of them, they should be educated in symptomology since diagnosis has always been and still is a clinical diagnosis. Testing is not accurate and should not be the sole means of diagnosis.
  5. Little research has been done on concurrent infection & what it does to the body and how it affects testing:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/  But this recent study shows by Garg et al. shows a 85% probability for multiple infections including not only tick-borne pathogens but also opportunistic microbes such as EBV and other viruses.  Mainstream medicine isn’t touching this with a ten foot pole.
  6. The good doctor points out that anaplasmosis and babesiosis can be very severe in people with compromised immune systems. I believe tick borne illness compromises the immune system greatly and it’s only logical to conclude that concurrent infection with numerous pathogens do so even more. Add a few opportunistic infections like Chlamydia and EBV, and you have a patient as sick as a dog:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/07/chlamydia-like-organisms-found-in-ticks/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/11/diagnosed-with-ebv-had-lyme/  This is why patients are so sick and why standard mono therapy often doesn’t work.
Taking into account the totality of these issues presents an entirely different picture than what authorities such as the IDSA and CDC present.

This is often a complex illness with many moving parts which necessitates various drugs of longer duration than currently being used.

The CDC/IDSA “One size fits all” approach just doesn’t work. Until authorities take into account these variables and allow doctors to treat patients accordingly, it’s a losing battle – and make no mistake about it – it’s the patients who loose.

 

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ticks, Transmission, Treatment

Lyme Disease Is Baffling, Even To Experts

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/life-with-lyme/594736/

Lyme Disease Is Baffling, Even to Experts

But new insights are at last accumulating.
Go to link for entire article.

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**Comment**

Overall – great article.

A few points:

  1. Despite the CDC’s opinion of patients, “the proof is in the pudding.” If your test results show antibodies, you begin treatment and feel worse before you feel better….what more can be said? This is a clinical diagnosis.
  2. Nobody’s denying there can be other factors at play. No – not everything is Lyme – but Lyme CAN be anything.
  3. The climate is a mute point regarding tick borne illness:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/, and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/ticks-on-the-move-due-to-migrating-birds-and-photoperiod-not-climate-change/
  4. For anyone versed in Tick-borne illness, the author has a hallmark case. Not remembering people you should know, having electric shocks all over your body, as well as burning, pain, numbness, severe exhaustion, vertigo, joint pain, tremors, headaches, brain fog – all of which wax and wane….remind me of Dr. Jemsek’s quote: “You either have 20 diseases or you have Lyme disease.”  
  5. It’s a good thing she chose to listen to Dr. Horowitz or things would be very bad for this author right now.
  6. Please remember that Steere is the one who created the entire paradigm keeping patients from getting effective treatment for this 40 years ago.  https://sites.google.com/site/jerryleonard999/home/allen-steere-psychopath-at-large  In short, Steere is a pharmaceuticals consultant, influential researcher and co-author of the IDSA Lyme disease guidelines, and a CDC/EIS biowarfare officer which is chartered with responding to biowarfare agents released on U.S. soil, as well as developing vaccines against them. He also worked for the private Yale Corporation that worked closely with the biowarfare tick lab in Connecticut. Working with Yale, Steere personally oversaw the Lymerix vaccine trials and associated tests run by the company that licensed the vaccine from his previous employer. Steere personally testifies against doctors who who treat chronic Lyme.  Why a patient would ever entertain a word this man says defies logic.

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks, Treatment