Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

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

Lyme Disease As War Weapon? Inside New Jersey Representative’s Push For Probe

https://news.yahoo.com/lyme-disease-war-weapon-inside-184904486.html

Lyme disease as war weapon? Inside New Jersey representative’s push for probe

Susanne Cervenk
USA TODAY

ASBURY PARK, N.J. – People suffering from Lyme disease could be closerto knowing whether the chronic illness impacting an estimated 300,000 or more people started off as a U.S. biological weapon.

U.S Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey hopes that knowledge could lead not only to accountability, but also a potential cure and greater recognition of the disease.

“My hope is, this jump-starts a very aggressive effort to find a cure and see how this (Lyme disease) is growing. It’s pushing out into the Great Lakes area. It’s exploding everywhere,” said Smith, a longtime advocate for Lyme disease research.  His district is one of the hotbeds for the disease.

The House of Representatives added a Smith amendment to a federal defense spending bill that would require the Department of Defense’s Inspector General to investigate whether the military, between 1950 and 1975, experimented with ticks and other insects to be used as biological weapons.

US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) opens a panel discussion about Lyme disease research held at the Wall Township Municipal building Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) opens a panel discussion about Lyme disease research held at the Wall Township Municipal building Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

Investigators will report back to the House and Senate Armed Services committees with the scope of any experiment it finds, including whether any ticks or insects were released into the environment, either by accident or on purpose.

The amendment was approved by voice vote. Now the House bill has to be reconciled with a Senate bill that does not include Smith’s amendment. Smith is working with senators to ensure the investigation survives the process.

Smith’s push for the federal investigation began after reading “Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons,” by Stanford University-based science writer Kris Newby.

A longstanding theory is that Lyme disease was a Soviet-era biological weapon created in a U.S. government research center on Plum Island and released, either accidentally or intentionally.

A book about the history of Lyme disease was referenced by US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) before a panel discussion about Lyme disease research held at the Wall Township Municipal building Wednesday, May 29, 2019.
A book about the history of Lyme disease was referenced by US Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) before a panel discussion about Lyme disease research held at the Wall Township Municipal building Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

Newby’s book, however, advances the theory with an interview with  late researcher Willy Burgdorfer, who claimed to have infected the ticks during U.S. military experiments.

“There needs to be significant accountability,” Smith said. “This should not be mired in secrecy.”

A federal probe could prove or disprove the theory. If the theory is proven correct, it would also give ammunition to individuals with chronic Lyme disease, who often face significant battles in getting treatment because it is not widely recognized by the medical community.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has declined to recognize chronic Lyme disease in its clinical practice guidelines, leaving sufferers to find “Lyme-friendly” doctors, which is not easy.

Smith said knowing the truth about any experimentation would also help researchers reverse-engineer a cure for the tick-borne illness, which can often be misdiagnosed first as fibromyalgia or other conditions before patients learn they have Lyme disease.

Smith unsuccessfully attempted to add a second amendment to the bill that would have created a Lyme disease “national strategy,” a holistic approach for federal agencies to combat the disease.

The national strategy is a part of Smith’s TICK Act, federal legislation he has proposed for more than 20 years that would provide $180 million over six years for research.

Follow Susanne Cervenka on Twitter: @scervenka.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Lyme disease a bioweapon? New Jersey rep’s call for U.S. probe

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks, Uncategorized

New Hampshire Man Tests Positive For Jamestown Canyon & Powassan Viruses

http://indepthnh.org/2019/08/08/dhhs-kingston-man-tests-positive-for-rare-viruses-carried-by-ticks-mosquitoes/

DHHS: Kingston Man Tests Positive for Rare Viruses Carried By Ticks, Mosquitoes

By DHHS news release

Public Domain photo

NH health officials say protect yourself from mosquito bites.
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that an adult from Kingston, NH tested positive for both Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) and Powassan virus (POW), the first time these vector-borne diseases have been identified in the State in 2019.JCV is transmitted by infected mosquitoes and POW is transmitted by infected ticks. There are no vaccines to prevent JCV or POW and treatment consists of supportive care.

“From spring until fall, New Hampshire residents and visitors are at risk for a number of different infections from the bite of mosquitoes and ticks, and this case highlights the risk from both,” said Dr. Benjamin Chan, State Epidemiologist.

“In addition to Jamestown Canyon virus and Powassan virus, there are a number of other viral and bacterial infections that can be transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks in New Hampshire, and we recommend that residents and visitors continue to take basic steps to prevent mosquito and tick bites in order to stay healthy.”

Jamestown Canyon virus is a mosquito-borne pathogen that circulates widely in North America primarily between deer and a variety of mosquito species, but it can also infect humans. First reported in the early 1970s, reports in humans are rare but have been increasing over the last several years. This is New Hampshire’s seventh case of JCV since the first report of the disease in 2013. Most reported illnesses caused by JCV have been mild, but moderate-to-severe central nervous system involvement has been reported.

Powassan virus infection is similar to mosquito-borne viruses like JCV, West Nile virus (WNV), and Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), but is transmitted to people by infected ticks. POW was identified as a cause of human illness in the late 1950’s. In the last decade, 144 cases of POW have been detected in the United States. This is New Hampshire’s fourth case of POW, also since 2013. In New Hampshire, the blacklegged tick is the most likely to transmit this virus to people. A tick needs to be attached to a person for only 15 minutes to transmit POW. Some people who are infected may experience mild illness or no symptoms. Powassan virus can also infect the central nervous system causing brain inflammation, which may be disabling or fatal.

The Kingston resident had no recent history of travel outside our state and spent a great amount of time outdoors. Residents and visitors to New Hampshire should protect themselves and their family members by:

·         using an effective mosquito and tick repellant containing DEET (20-30%), Picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus

·         wearing protective clothing, tucking shirts into pants and pants into socks

·         removing standing water from around your house so mosquitoes do not have a place to breed

·         being mindful of tick habitat keeping grass cut short, and

·         performing frequent and daily tick checks with immediate tick removal.

Vitamin B, ultrasonic devices, incense, and bug zappers have not been shown to be effective in preventing mosquito- or tick-borne diseases.

Other mosquito- and tick-borne illnesses that have been documented in New Hampshire include WNV and EEE from mosquitoes, and Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Borrelia miyamotoi from ticks. Biting mosquitoes will continue to be a disease concern until there are two, statewide, hard frosts. Risk of tick bites exists when temperatures are above freezing and ticks are not covered by snow.

People can be infected and not develop any symptoms, or only develop very mild symptoms. Early symptoms can include flu-like illness including fever, muscle aches, headaches, and fatigue. People infected with JCV, EEE, WNV, and Powassan can develop more serious central nervous system disease, including meningitis or encephalitis. If you or someone you know is experiencing flu-like symptoms, including fever and headache, contact your local medical provider.

Anyone with questions about vector-borne illnesses can call the DHHS Division of Public Health Services Bureau of Infectious Disease Control at (603) 271-4496 between 8 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday. More information can also be found online at www.dhhs.nh.gov and www.cdc.gov.

News story here:  https://www.wmur.com/article/new-hampshire-adult-infected-with-jamestown-canyon-virus-powassan-virus/28647142

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**Comment**

Pathogens have a certain proclivity for their vectors. It’s always interesting to me to entertain the possibility that perhaps there is cross over.

For instance, borrelia has been found in mosquitoes and many patients claim to have become infected with Lyme after a mosquito bite:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/are-mosquitoes-transmitting-lyme-disease/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26631488/  Excerpt:

…results show that DNA of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia bavariensis and Borrelia garinii could be detected in ten Culicidae species comprising four distinct genera (Aedes, Culiseta, Culex, and Ochlerotatus). Positive samples also include adult specimens raised in the laboratory from wild-caught larvae indicating that transstadial and/or transovarial transmission might occur within a given mosquito population.

BTW: THE LAST STUDY ON THE POTENTIAL OF OTHER BUGS TRANSMITTING LYME (MINUS THE GERMAN STUDY ON MOSQUITOS) WAS DONE OVER 30 YEARS AGO.  AND, WHILE NO SPIROCHETES WERE ISOLATED FROM THE HAMSTERS, ANTIBODIES WERE FOUND – EVEN BACK THEN.

Therein lies the hang up. The presence of antibodies does not prove infection. It’s interesting that the current CDC 2-tiered testing relies upon antibodies…..

The transmission of Bartonella from ticks is also still being quibbled about with some just stating emphatically that it is:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/01/03/bartonella-treatment/ while others take a more conservative approach and say the science isn’t settled: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/13/suspected-insect-and-arthropod-vectors-for-bartonella-species-galaxy/

This issue of what is being transmitted by whom seems to me to be a very important and practical issue.  Why isn’t the science being done?

Also, while the media continues to inform us all of this is “rare,” please remember that many of these pathogens are not mandatorily reported, and we have no idea on prevalence. Coppe Lab out of Wisconsin emphatically states Powassan is NOT rare:

http://www.coppelabs.com/blog/why-is-powassan-virus-infection-still-described-as-rare-and-mysterious/  Please read the following excerpt by Coppe Lab here in Wisconsin,

For the last two years, Coppe Laboratories has dedicated a significant amount of time and resources to dispelling the myth that infection with Powassan virus, a virus transmitted by tick bite, is rare. The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) reports only 100 cases of Powassan virus infection in the United States in the last 10 years. Indeed, that statistic gives the illusion that Powassan infection is rare. However, did you know that the only infections reported to CDC are those that are life-threatening, particularly cases causing severe inflammation of the brain like the case reported in LiveScience? Coppe has published three new papers in the last year that clearly show Powassan virus infection is not rare are at all,and until testing for this virus is included as part of tick-borne disease screening panels infections will continue to be underreported. Coppe’s Powassan Guide, which can be downloaded from the website, summarizes the findings from both tick and human Powassan prevalence studies, as well as defining the patient populations that would benefit most from Powassan testing.

To my knowledge, not only are there few current studies on what transmits what, but nothing has been done  on transmission time when multiple pathogens are being transmitted concurrently. Everyone’s stuck on climate change….

 

 

 

 

Category:

mosquitoes, Ticks, Transmission, Viruses