Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

African Tick Found on Untraveled U.K. Horse

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30876825

2019 Apr;10(3):704-708. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.03.003. Epub 2019 Mar 9.

Hyalomma rufipes on an untraveled horse: Is this the first evidence of Hyalomma nymphs successfully moulting in the United Kingdom?

Hansford KM1, Carter D2, Gillingham EL3, Hernandez-Triana LM4, Chamberlain J5, Cull B6, McGinley L6, Paul Phipps L4, Medlock JM7.

Abstract

During September 2018, a tick was submitted to Public Health England’s Tick Surveillance Scheme for identification. The tick was sent from a veterinarian who removed it from a horse in Dorset, England, with no history of overseas travel. The tick was identified as a male Hyalomma rufipes using morphological and molecular methods and then tested for a range of tick-borne pathogens including;

  • Alkhurma virus
  • Anaplasma
  • Babesia
  • Bhanja virus
  • Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus
  • Rickettsia
  • Theileria

The tick tested positive for Rickettsia aeschlimannii, a spotted fever group rickettsia linked to a number of human cases in Africa and Europe.

This is the first time H. rufipes has been reported in the United Kingdom (UK), and the lack of travel by the horse (or any in-contact horses) suggests that this could also be the first evidence of successful moulting of a Hyalomma nymph in the UK. It is postulated that the tick was imported into the UK on a migratory bird as an engorged nymph which was able to complete its moult to the adult stage and find a host.

This highlights that passive tick surveillance remains an important method for the detection of unusual species that may present a threat to public health in the UK. Horses are important hosts of Hyalomma sp. adults in their native range, therefore, further surveillance studies should be conducted to check horses for ticks in the months following spring bird migration; when imported nymphs may have had time to drop off their avian host and moult to adults. The potential human and animal health risks of such events occurring more regularly are discussed.

_________________________

A ProMED-mail post

A tick capable of carrying a host of killer illnesses has been found in the UK for the very 1st time, health officials have revealed.

The _Hyalomma rufipes_ tick – a small blood-sucking arachnid – is usually confined to Africa, Asia and parts of southern Europe. But Public Health England [PHE] has now revealed one of the ticks, 10 times larger than others, was discovered in Dorset last year [2018]. The creature itself wasn’t found to be carrying the deadly Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHF).

The disturbing find, which could ‘present a threat to public health in the UK’, has been documented in the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases.

A vet at The Barn Equine Surgery in Wimborne removed the tick from a horse last September [2018]. They then sent it to PHE’s tick surveillance team. Writing in the journal, the PHE team said: ‘This is the first time _Hyalomma rufipes_ has been reported in the United Kingdom. ‘The lack of travel by the horse – or any in-contact horses – suggests that this could also be the 1st evidence of successful moulting of a _Hyalomma_ nymph in the UK.’

The team of researchers who found the tick was led by Kayleigh Hansford, of PHE’s medical entomology and zoonoses ecology group.

Writing in the journal, they said it is suspected the tick hitched a ride on a migratory bird before landing in the UK. Neither the infested horse, nor other horses in the stable had travelled anywhere and no further ticks were detected on any of the horses. It is thought the tick travelled on a swallow because they are known to nest in the stables of horses and migrate from Africa to the UK for summer.

The UK climate, known to be getting warmer, is thought to be a major limiting factor for the survival of _Hyalomma rufipes_. However, the unusually warm weather experienced during the summer of 2018 may have been a factor for helping it moult – become an adult.

Currently, the ticks are found in Greece, Northern China, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen and Oman.

The World Health Organization last year [2018] named CCHF as one of 10 pathogens that pose the most ‘urgent’ threat to humanity.

Figures show the virus – most often spread through tick bites – kills around 40% of humans that it strikes. The horrific illness is said to manifest ‘abruptly’, with initial symptoms including fever, backache, headache, dizziness and sore eyes.

[Byline: Stephen Matthews]

—
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall

[Not mentioned in detail in the above report, the PHE team, using morphological and molecular methods, then tested for a range of tick-borne pathogens including: Alkhurma virus, Anaplasma, Babesia, Bhanja virus, Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic fever virus, Rickettsia and Theileria. The tick tested positive for _Rickettsia aeschlimannii_, a spotted fever group rickettsia linked to a number of human cases in Africa and Europe.

The critical question is if this is a single tick transported into Dorset, or represents one tick of a local breeding population. Transportation of a single tick by a migrating bird is a reasonable possibility. Immature (nymph) _Hyalomma_ usually feed on birds, rodents, and hares. Nymphs are often transported from one place to another by migrating birds. For example, a migrating bird carrying a CCH virus-infected _Hyalomma marginatum_ nymph can introduce the virus into new localities and infect humans and domestic livestock (Larry S.Roberts, 2009). Continued surveillance in the area where the single tick was found, as well as generally in the UK over the spring and summer months, would be prudent.

 

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Babesia, research, Rickettsia, Testing, Ticks, Viruses

Latent Lyme Disease Resulting in Chronic Arthritis & Early Career Termination in a U.S. Army Officer

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/30839071/

Latent Lyme Disease Resulting in Chronic Arthritis and Early Career Termination in a United States Army Officer.

Weiss T, et al. Mil Med. 2019.

Abstract

Lyme disease is a continuing threat to military personnel operating in arboriferous and mountainous environments. Here we present the case of a 24-year-old Second Lieutenant, a recent graduate from the United States Military Academy, with a history of Lyme disease who developed recurrent knee effusions following surgery to correct a hip impingement. Although gonococcal arthritis was initially suspected from preliminary laboratory results, a comprehensive evaluation contradicted this diagnosis.

Despite antibiotic therapy, aspiration of the effusions, and steroid treatment to control inflammation, the condition of the patient deteriorated to the point where he was found to be unfit for duty and subsequently discharged from active military service. This case illustrates the profound effect that latent Lyme disease can have on the quality of life and the career of an active duty military member. It highlights the need for increased surveillance for Borrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi) in military training areas and for the early and aggressive diagnosis and treatment of military personnel who present with the symptoms of acute Lyme disease.

Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2019.

________________
**Comment**
Our military has been in ‘harms way’ for decades. Glad this case study was made.  I have military friends who receive training in Northern Wisconsin. They sleep outside and literally pick thousands of ticks off their bodies. I can only imagine the high numbers of soldiers with similar stories not being counted or recognized.
Excerpt: 
After congressional investigation, he was finally discharged from the Air Force after 14 years of highly recognized and awarded military service that ended in shame because doctors did not understand Lyme disease.  Attorneys laughed and joked as they decided he was no longer fit for duty and discharged him from the Air Force without benefits, pay, or health insurance. He was essentially dumped on the streets homeless, disabled, and unable to work, with a wife and a child to provide for.
Three decades later, the VA still cannot diagnose Lyme disease based upon symptoms.
The VA did not recognize Lyme disease until the mid-1990s. That means that veterans who had Lyme disease before then were misdiagnosed and some are perhaps homeless and disabled.  According to Sims the government is no wiser today than before they recognized Lyme disease.
The real problem is:
military and VA healthcare systems follow CDC two-tier tests Lyme disease guidelines that capture less than 10% of Lyme disease cases nationwide.
Over 90% of Lyme disease cases are diagnosed and treated by a minority of doctors who specialize in Lyme disease and tick-borne disease and understand CDC guidelines are fatally flawed.
He also states that according to many medical experts, the largest cause of death from Lyme disease is suicide.
Soldiers are also forced to get vaccines and many are injured by them:
Ticks are found:

Beaches:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/07/ticks-on-beaches/

Rocks and picnic benches: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/13/ticks-found-on-rocks/

Caves:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/23/tick-borne-relapsing-fever-found-in-austin-texas-caves/, and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/27/israeli-kids-get-lyme-disease-from-ticks-in-caves/

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

California:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/19/infected-ticks-in-california-its-complicated/

In the South:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/31/no-lyme-in-the-south-guess-again/, and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/06/remembering-dr-masters-the-rebel-for-lyme-patients-who-took-on-the-cdc-single-handedly/, and https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/02/hold-the-press-arkansas-has-lyme/

Southern Hemisphere: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/06/lyme-in-the-southern-hemisphere-sexual-transmission/

Australia:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/11/03/ld-not-in-australia-here-we-go-again/

And everywhere else…..

Remember, there are 300 strains and counting of Borrelia worldwide and 100 strains and counting in the U.S.  Current CDC two-tiered testing tests for ONE strain!  Do the math….

Lyme has been found in ALL 50 states and is worldwide:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/18/lyme-found-in-all-50-states/
And remember, Lyme is the rock star we know by name.  There are plenty of other illnesses ticks transmit and it isn’t JUST the black-legged tick.
There’s no such thing as a “safe” tick or an “irrelevant” tick bite.

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks

FREE Tick Testing for Pennsylvanians

https://www.ticklab.org

Have you been bitten by a tick & Want it Tested?

The Pennsylvania Tick Research Lab can analyze your tick, testing for tick-borne diseases. Order your test online by clicking link above.

If the tick is a deer tick (Ixodes scapularis), the following 4 pathogens are tested for:

  • Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
  • Anaplasma phagocytophilum (anaplasmosis)
  • Babesia microti (babesiosis)
  • Powassan virus Lineage II (Deer tick virus).

If the tick is a non-deer tick, the following 4 pathogens are tested for:

  • Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
  • Ehrlichia chaffeensis (ehrlichiosis)
  • Rickettsia general species (RMSF)
  • Francisells tularensis (tularemia)

Out of State residents may also have a basic panel for $50 which includes 3 tests depending upon the tick species, $100 for an advanced panel which includes 6 tests, and $175 for the comprehensive panel which covers all pathogens related to the tick species.

There are options to upgrade to advanced and comprehensive testing panels at discounted rates for Pennsylvanian residents. If you want the advanced/comprehensive testing a check needs to be included with the tick.

Once they receive the tick, test results are obtained within three business days.

Please feel free to email wildlifedna@esu.edu or call 570-422-7892 if you have any questions.

_________________

**Comment**

Tick testing is a great service; however, testing isn’t always 100% accurate and it’s also possible to have symptoms before the results come back.

In this case, a little girl couldn’t walk or talk within 4-6 hours of tick attachment:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/12/07/igenex-presentation/. Great video by microbiologist Holly Ahern on transmission times. The longer the tick is attached, the greater the risk, however….

Minimum time required to transmit Lyme disease has never been determined as well as transmission times for many other pathogens. Coinfection is common

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/30/study-shows-lyme-msids-patients-infected-with-many-pathogens-and-explains-why-we-are-so-sick/

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Testing, Ticks

New Yorkers Brace for Self-cloning Asian Longhorned Tick

https://news.columbia.edu/news/new-yorkers-brace-self-cloning-asian-longhorned-tick

New Yorkers Brace for Self-cloning Asian Longhorned Tick

By

Adam Piore
March 28, 2019
Asian Longhorned Tick

Staten Island residents have another reason to apply insect repellent and obsessively check for ticks this spring and summer: the population of a new, potentially dangerous invasive pest known as the Asian longhorned tick has grown dramatically across the borough, according to Columbia University researchers. And the tick—which unlike other local species can clone itself in large numbers—is likely to continue its conquest in the months ahead.

“The concern with this tick is that it could transmit human pathogens and make people sick,” explains researcher Maria Diuk-Wasser, an associate professor in the Columbia University Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, who studies ticks and human disease risk.

In a new study appearing in the April issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, Diuk-Wasser and colleagues provide the most exhaustive local census of the new species to date—and suggest the Staten Island infestation is far more advanced than previously known.

The researchers found the species Haemaphysalis longicornis in 7 of 13 parks surveyed in 2017 and in 16 of 32 in 2018. In one park, the density of the ticks per 1000 square meters rose almost 1,698 percent between 2017 and 2018, with the number of ticks picked up in the sample area rising from 85 to 1,529. They also found the ticks on anesthetized deer from the area.

The news comes less than a year after the New York City Department of Health announced the discovery of the first member of the species in the city—a single tick—found on southern Staten Island last August.

The tick, native to Asia and Australia, had been identified in the months prior to the Staten Island sighting in New Jersey, West Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas and just a few weeks earlier in Westchester County. The Westchester sighting prompted a number of state senators to send a letter urging state health officials to act aggressively to stop the spread of the new species.

Public health officials are particularly concerned because the longhorned tick is notorious for its ability to quickly replicate itself. Unlike deer ticks, the common local variety known for carrying Lyme disease, the female Asian longhorned can copy itself through asexual reproduction in certain environmental conditions, or reproduce sexually, laying 1,000-2,000 eggs at a time. They are typically found in grass in addition to the forested habitats that  deer ticks prefer, adding a new complication to public health messaging. The Columbia analysis suggests that the public warnings may have come too late.

“The fact that longhorned tick populations are so high in southern Staten Island will make control of this species extremely  difficult,” says Meredith VanAcker, a member of Diuk-Wasser’s lab who collected the data as part of her Ph.D. thesis. “And because females don’t need to find male mates for reproduction, it is easier for the population to spread.”

The threat these new arrivals pose to human health is still unknown. In Asia, there have been reports of ticks passing on a virus that can cause a number of diseases, including hemorrhagic fever and ehrlichiosis, a bacterial illness that can cause flu-like symptoms and lead to serious complications if not treated.

The arrival of the species on Staten Island adds another unwelcome dimension to the region’s tick woes, which have grown dramatically in recent years. Thanks to an expanding deer population, Lyme disease spread through deer ticks has reached epidemic proportions in some areas of the Northeast. Deer ticks (also called black-legged ticks) are capable of disseminating six other human pathogens.

The first Asian long-horned tick in the U.S. was identified in New Jersey in 2013. A large population was later found on sheep in Mercer County, New Jersey. Diuk-Wasser became aware of the potential danger when a doctor at a Westchester clinic removed a tick from a patient and sent it in for identification. The discovery of the first human bite prompted widespread alarm.

By then, the Columbia team was already in the midst of an extensive “tick census” on Staten Island to determine how the landscape connectivity between urban parks influenced the spread of disease.

The Asian longhorned is easy to miss because it resembles a rare native species of rabbit tick. VanAcker spent months combing areas of Staten Island for ticks, dragging a square-meter corduroy cloth over leaf litter and examining it every 10 to 20 meters Diuk-Wasser, post-doctoral student Danielle Tufts and other members of the Diuk-Wasser lab found huge numbers of them on the bodies of unconscious deer that had been captured and anesthetized by wildlife authorities.

VanAcker found her collections were overflowing with the new species, leading to publication of the current study in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Her work on landscape connectivity, slated to appear in the June issue of the same journal, drives home the difficult decisions facing policymakers as they attempt to arrest the spread of the new species and others like it.

“The easier it is for deer to maneuver through urban landscapes between parks, the more likely the ticks are to spread to new areas,” Diuk-Wasser says. “This suggests that the emphasis on urban wildlife corridors has a previously unappreciated downside for human health.”

This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

For media inquiries or more information, contact Carla Cantor at 212-854-5276 or carla.cantor@columbia.edu.

__________________

**Comment**

This right here is why this recent study done on grass length is terrible.  This study on the Asian tick showed they like GRASS and forested habitats  :https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/06/an-abysmal-study-on-ticks-grass-length/

The study only looked for the Black-legged tick when there are hundreds of others that carry disease.  According to Canadian tick researcher John Scott, the black legged tick alone can transmit 11 diseases: Ticks, associated tick-borne pathogens

  1. Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
  2. Borrelia miyamotoi (relapsing fever group spirochete)
  3. Bartonella spp. (e.g., B. henselae)
  4. Babesia spp. (e.g., B. duncani, B. microti)
  5. Mycoplasma spp. (e.g., M. fermentans)
  6. Anaplasma spp. (e.g., A. phagocytophilum)
  7. Francisella tularensis (tularemia)
  8. Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis (canine granulocytic ehrlichiosis, but also infects humans)
  9. Hemocytic Rickettsia-like organisms
  10. Deer Tick Virus (Powassan group virus)
  11. tick paralysis (from fully engorged female)

And there are 18 and counting diseases spread by other ticks:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/one-tick-bite-could-put-you-at-risk-for-at-least-6-different-diseases/

No Tick is a good tick, and there’s no such thing as an “irrelevant” tick bite!

More on the Asian Longhorned tick:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/12/three-surprising-things-i-learned-about-asian-longhorned-ticks-the-tick-guy-tom-mather/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/08/an-invasive-new-tick-is-spreading-in-the-u-s/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/01/asian-longhorned-tick-maria-diuk-wasser-phd/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/05/hawk-found-carrying-asian-long-horned-tick-the-one-that-drains-cattle-of-all-their-blood/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/10/03/1st-person-bitten-by-east-asian-longhorned-tick/

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, research, Ticks

An Abysmal Study on Ticks & Grass Length

Please see my comment after article.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190403155411.htm

Think the tick threat grows with the grass? Not necessarily!

April 3, 2019
Source:
USDA Forest Service – Northern Research Station
Summary:
Scientists report on their quest to get to the bottom of a common assumption about the urban landscape: ticks like long grass. In 144 tick drags in 16 suburban lawns in Springfield, Mass., researchers looking at mowing frequency and native bees did not find a single tick.
In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, USDA Forest Service researchers Susannah Lerman and Vince D’Amico report on their quest to get to the bottom of a common assumption about the urban landscape: ticks such as the blacklegged tick (pictured) like long grass.  Credit: Vince D’Amico, USDA Forest Service

When Susannah Lerman talked with fellow researchers and friends about her study of the effects of less frequent lawn mowing to improve habitat for native bees, the response she heard most had nothing to do with bees.

“The first thing people said was that letting the grass get longer would invite ticks,” said Lerman, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station. “It was clear that before we could make the case for promoting lawns as bee habitat, we had to understand the tick risk.”

In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, Lerman and her Northern Research Station colleague, Research Entomologist Vince D’Amico, report on their quest to get to the bottom of a common assumption about the urban landscape: ticks like long grass. As part of a study to evaluate whether less frequent lawn mowing in residential lawns in Springfield, Mass., could promote floral resources and hence, serve as viable habitat for native bees, Lerman and her partners surveyed for blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis, also known as deer ticks) as well as bees every three weeks. In 16 suburban Springfield lawns over the course of two summers, Lerman and colleagues documented 111 bee species, which equates to roughly one-quarter of all bees documented in Massachusetts. As for blacklegged ticks? In 144 tick drags in lawns of various lawn mowing frequencies and grass heights, Lerman and her colleagues found not a single one.

“There are obvious limitations to this study in terms of establishing the risk of ticks,” Lerman said. “We sampled for a single species of tick, and our study was limited to 16 residential lawns in a single city. Still, our study has two significant take-aways: you do not necessarily invite ticks if you mow the lawn every other week instead of every week, and common assumptions about nature are always worth investigating; scientists may be surprised by what we find.“

Blacklegged ticks are notorious as carriers of Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection with significant human health risks that is prevalent in the Northeast. While blacklegged ticks are no doubt lurking in people’s yards, D’Amico said that the grassy part of a property is probably too dry for the tick.

“This species needs near 100 percent humidity for at least part of the day,” D’Amico said. “Where we have leaf litter, the ticks do very well.”

In the United States, an estimated 40 million acres of residential lawn managed by homeowners, businesses, government agencies and cemeteries have the potential to become habitat for beleaguered native bee species, if people can put aside a very reasonable fear and loathing of ticks. In this study, Lerman and her team found good reason to do so.

Story Source:

Materials provided by USDA Forest Service – Northern Research Station. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

  1. Susannah B. Lerman, Vincent D’Amico. Lawn mowing frequency in suburban areas has no detectable effect on Borrelia spp. vector Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae). PLOS ONE, 2019; 14 (4): e0214615 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214615

_________________

**Comment**

I love bees, don’t get me wrong but there is a ton of data showing that ticks like humidity and seek out leaf litter, snow, or anything that will keep them from drying out.  This study, in hopes of helping bees, is quite premature regarding the effects on ticks.  Sampling for one one species of tick was a huge mistake, and to put information out like this gives people a false sense of security when ticks are a real risk.  Other states are finding different results:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/03/06/alumnus-works-to-protect-people-from-west-nile-virus-lyme-disease/

In this study we find the most ticks –

ALONG THE EDGES OF SOCCER FIELDS WITH WOODLINES.

This is a scary thought for all the Wisconsin youth playing sports outside.  I would hesitate to say that nearly EVERY soccer field in WI has a woodline close by!

Regardless of grass length, pet owners have nearly 2 times the risk of finding ticks:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/12/pet-owners-have-nearly-2-times-the-risk-of-finding-ticks/

My advice:  keep your grass short, don’t invite wildlife into your yard, spray an acaricide, treat ALL pets, and wear permethrin treated clothing while doing any and all yard work.  It’s not worth the risk!  For more prevention ideas:  https://tickencounter.org/prevention

Treat yourself, pets, and yard – period, and throw this study into the trash.

Please remember the climate has nothing to do with this and ticks are ecoadaptive.  When conditions are harsh they climb under leaf litter and snow:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/

Let’s not cut our nose off despite our face.  Protect yourself and your family from ticks.

 

 

Category:

Activism, Prevention, research, Ticks