Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

Lyme Meningoencephalitis Masquerading as Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5984262/#__ffn_sectitle

Lyme Meningoencephalitis Masquerading as Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus

Monitoring Editor: Alexander Muacevic and John R Adler
Aakash Desai, Gaurav Manek, Anand M Krishnan, Corina Iorgoveanu, Ahmed Zaghloul

Abstract
Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused primarily by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease is most prevalent in forested areas endemic for Ixodes tick, which transmits the spirochete. Here, we describe a case of Lyme meningoencephalitis masquerading as normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) which initially presented with urinary incontinence, gait instability, and neurological decline. Due to its non-specific symptoms and low incidence, Lyme meningoencephalitis causing NPH like syndrome poses a diagnostic conundrum for clinicians. Awareness of this disease entity is key for prompt diagnosis and treatment.

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**Comment**

Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH), which normally affects older people, is a brain disorder where there’s too much cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s ventricle which causes trouble reasoning, thinking and walking, as well as loss of bladder control.  There can also be personality & behavior changes, and apathy.  Brain imaging to detect enlarged ventricles as well as MRI’s help with diagnosis.  Causes include hemorrhages, inflammation, and infections, and unknown reasons.

In this case, the patient appeared to have NPH but was rather infected with Lyme.

I know many patients who have excruciating headaches that they would describe as meningal, including myself.  The entire lining of the head hurts.  Some even receive a Chiari diagnosis as the swelling can force the brain to go through the opening of the skull.  For me the best antibiotics were those like minocycline which cross the blood/brain barrier.  I honestly wondered if I’d ever have a day without this head pain.  Good, effective treatment eradicated this but doctors are woefully unprepared.  Please contact your local Lyme support group if you have symptoms for a list of ILADS trained doctors who understand the complexity of this disease and will treat accordingly.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/04/02/chiari/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/04/minocycline-for-ms-and-much-more/

 

Category:

Inflammation, Lyme, research, Ticks

Integrated Control of Juvenile Ixodes Scapularis Parasitizing Peromyscus Leucopus in Residential Settings in Connecticut, United States

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29859885/

Integrated control of juvenile Ixodes scapularis parasitizing Peromyscus leucopus in residential settings in Connecticut, United States.

Williams SC, et al. Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2018.

Abstract
Lyme disease continues to be the most common vector-borne disease in the United States with an estimated 330,000 human cases annually. In the eastern United States, the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, is the primary vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, and the white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, is a primary reservoir host. In four residential neighborhoods in Connecticut over three years, we tested the effectiveness of different low-toxicity integrated tick management approaches to control larval and nymphal I. scapularis parasitizing P. leucopus.

  • Combinations of white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, reduction,
  • broadcast application of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae,
  • distribution of fipronil-based rodent-targeted bait boxes were evaluated against an
  • experimental control

Deer reduction with no other intervention likely forced juvenile I. scapularis to obtain blood meals from available reservoir hosts, resulting in increased exposure of P. leucopus to B. burgdorferi compared to control sites. The M. anisopliae/bait box and the deer reduction/M. anisopliae/bait box treatment combinations resulted in 94% and 85% reductions in larvae parasitizing P. leucopus that tested positive for B. burgdorferi, respectively, compared to control. Deer reduction alone resulted in only a 3% reduction, likely because parasitizing juvenile I. scapularis were not targeted by bait box-delivered fipronil. Unless there is community support to reduce and maintain deer at very low densities (<5 deer/km2), it is clear that a combination of M. anisopliae/fipronil-based bait boxes offers an effective, localized, low-toxicity option for reducing I. scapularis parasitizing P. leucopus without complications from host switching.

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For more on successful tick reduction methods:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/03/fire-good-news-for-tick-reduction/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/06/mc-bugg-z/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/05/11/tick-prevention-and-removal-2017/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/27/study-conforms-permethrin-causes-ticks-to-drop-off-clothing/

 

Category:

research, Testing, Ticks, Treatment

New UVA Study Tentatively Links Ticks to Heart Disease

https://news.virginia.edu/content/new-uva-study-tentatively-links-ticks-heart-disease?utm_source=DailyReport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

NEW UVA STUDY TENTATIVELY LINKS TICKS TO HEART DISEASE

The bite of the lone star tick had previously been shown to cause an allergy to red meat. Now it is linked with an increased risk of heart disease.

June 14, 2018 Josh Barney, jdb9a@virginia.edu

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have linked sensitivity to an allergen in red meat – a sensitivity spread by tick bites – with a buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries of the heart. This buildup may increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

The bite of the lone star tick can cause people to develop an allergic reaction to red meat. However, many people who do not exhibit symptoms of the allergy are still sensitive to the allergen found in meat. UVA’s new study linked sensitivity to the allergen with the increased plaque buildup, as measured by a blood test.

The researchers emphasize that their findings are preliminary, but say further research is warranted.

tick_story_da_inline_01
The research team drew from both allergists and cardiologists, and included, from left, Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, Dr. Coleen McNamara, Dr. Jeff Wilson and Anh Nguyen. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

“This novel finding from a small group of subjects examined at the University of Virginia raises the intriguing possibility that asymptomatic allergy to red meat may be an under-recognized factor in heart disease,” said study leader Dr. Coleen McNamara of UVA’s Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center and UVA’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. “These preliminary findings underscore the need for further clinical studies in larger populations from diverse geographic regions.”

Allergens and Clogged Arteries

Looking at 118 patients, the researchers determined that those sensitive to the meat allergen had 30 percent more plaque accumulation inside their arteries than those without the sensitivity. Further, a higher percentage of the plaques had features characteristic of unstable plaques that are more likely to cause heart attacks.

With the meat allergy, people become sensitized to alpha-gal, a type of sugar found in red meat. People with the symptomatic form of the allergy can develop hives, stomach upset, have trouble breathing or exhibit other symptoms three to eight hours after consuming meat from mammals. (Poultry and fish do not trigger a reaction.)

What’s it like to develop a meat allergy?   https://makingofmedicine.virginia.edu/2018/03/29/the-meat-allergy-whats-it-like/

Other people can be sensitive to alpha-gal and not develop symptoms. In fact, far more people are thought to be in this latter group. For example, up to 20 percent of people in Central Virginia and other parts of the Southeast may be sensitized to alpha-gal, but not show symptoms.

The allergy to alpha-gal was first reported in 2009 by Dr. Thomas Platts-Mills, who heads UVA’s Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, and his colleague Dr. Scott Commins. Since then, there have been increasing numbers of cases of the meat allergy reported across the U.S., especially as the lone star tick’s territory grows. Previously found predominantly in the Southeast, the tick has now spread west and north, all the way into Canada.

UVA’s new study suggests that doctors could develop a blood test to benefit people sensitive to the allergen.

“This work raises the possibility that in the future a blood test could help predict individuals, even those without symptoms of red meat allergy, who might benefit from avoiding red meat. However, at the moment, red meat avoidance is only indicated for those with allergic symptoms,” said researcher Dr. Jeff Wilson of UVA’s allergy division.

Findings Published

The work represents a significant collaboration between allergy and cardiology experts at UVA. The researchers have published their findings in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, a journal of the American Heart Association. The research team consisted of Wilson, Anh Nguyen, Alexander Schuyler, Commins, Angela Taylor, Platts-Mills and McNamara.

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, grants KO8-AI085190, K23-HL093118, RO1-AI 20565, PO1-HL55798, RO1-HL136098-01 and RO1-HL107490.

MEDIA CONTACT

Josh Barney
UVA Health System
jdb9a@virginia.edu 434-243-1988

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/04/arkansas-woman-develops-deadly-meat-allergy-after-tick-bite/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/12/tick-related-red-meat-allergy-found-in-minnesota-wisconsin/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/27/alpha-gal-perioperative-management/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/01/16/a-strange-itch-trouble-breathing-then-anaphylactic-shock/

 

Category:

Activism, Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission

Surveillance For Heartland & Bourbon Viruses in Eastern Kansas

https://academic.oup.com/jme/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jme/tjy103/5045816

Surveillance for Heartland and Bourbon Viruses in Eastern Kansas, June 2016

Savage HM, Godsey MS Jr, Tatman J, Burkhalter KL, Hamm A, Panella NA, Ghosh A, Raghavan RK.
Journal of Medical Entomology, online first 2018 Jun 27.

Abstract

In June 2016, we continued surveillance for tick-borne viruses in eastern Kansas following upon a larger surveillance program initiated in 2015 in response to a fatal human case of Bourbon virus (BRBV) (Family
Orthomyxoviridae: Genus Thogotovirus). In 4 d, we collected 14,193 ticks representing four species from four sites.

Amblyomma americanum (L.) (Acari: Ixodidae) accounted for nearly all ticks collected (n = 14,116, 99.5%), and the only other species identified were Amblyomma maculatum Koch (Acari: Ixodidae),
Dermacentor variables (Say) (Acari: Ixodidae) and Ixodes scapulars Say (Acari: Ixodidae). All ticks were tested for both BRBV and Heartland virus (Family Bunyaviridae: Genus Phlebovirus) in 964 pools.

Five Heartland virus positive tick pools were detected and confirmed by real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR), while all pools tested negative for BRBV. Each Heartland positive pool was composed of 25 A. americium nymphs with positive pools collected at three different sites in Bourbon County.

A. americanum is believed to be the primary vector of both Heartland and BRBVs to humans based upon multiple detections of virus in field-collected ticks, its abundance, and its aggressive feeding behavior on mammals including humans. However, it is possible that A. americium encounters viremic vertebrate hosts of BRBV less frequently than viremic hosts of Heartland virus, or that BRBV is less efficiently
passed among ticks by co-feeding, or less efficiently passed vertically from infected female ticks to their offspring resulting in lower field infection rates.

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For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/one-tick-bite-could-put-you-at-risk-for-at-least-6-different-diseases/ (Actually it’s 18 and counting)

Category:

research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission, Viruses

Summer Campers Face Deadly Ticks & Mosquitoes

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/24/health/bug-disease-preparedness/index.html

Summer campers face deadly ticks and mosquitoes

By Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield, CNN
June 25, 2018

US ‘not ready’ for potentially deadly bug diseases

In many parts of the United States, this weekend marks the start of summer sleepaway camp season, which means swimming, arts and crafts, marshmallow roasts — and, very often, ticks.

Of the more than 1,600 overnight camps that are members of the American Camp Association, more than a third are in New England and the mid-Atlantic states, where Lyme disease is particularly prevalent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to a May CDC report, cases of vector-borne diseases — those caused by viruses and bacteria carried by ticks, mosquitoes and other bugs — tripled in the United States from 2004 to 2016.

For years, experts have voiced concern that many local public health agencies are unprepared to control such pests and limit the spread of these diseases which include Lyme disease, dengue fever and Zika.

“I started to look into it, and the numbers were on the increase and didn’t show any signs of stopping,” said Lauren Rutkowski, who with her husband, Joel, owns Indian Head Camp for children in Equinunk, Pennsylvania. “As a mom and a camp director, I was concerned.”

Every summer from 2010 to 2014, seven or eight campers had confirmed or suspected tick bites at Indian Head, and each summer, three or four of those children tested positive for Lyme disease, according to Rutkowski. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted through bites from infected ticks, and if left untreated, it can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system.

She said it’s not known whether the children contracted the disease from the tick bite they got at camp or from a previous tick bite at home.

In 2014, her son, Oakley, was bitten by a tick at the family’s camp, which hosts 650 children every summer. He did not contract Lyme disease.

The next year, Rutkowski hired a new service that helps fight ticks, including spraying the perimeter of the camp with pesticides and offering advice on how to get rid of habitats where ticks breed.

Since then, not a single camper is known to have been bitten by a tick, Rutkowski said.

Now, 123 camps use the service, Ivy Oaks Analytics, according to Isaiah Ham, who started the company after one of his summer campers contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite.

Ham, then a college student working as a counselor, said he wasn’t pleased with the camp’s response.

“The camp just kind of shrugged and thought it was just inevitable, like a hurricane; it was just part of being in the outdoors,” Ham remembered.

It’s unknown how many children are bitten by ticks at summer camps or how many camps are using services to mitigate the pests, according to Sam Borek, president of the New York/New Jersey section of the American Camp Association.

Camps don’t exist in a vacuum, of course, and there are concerns that state public health departments aren’t doing enough to fight diseases caused by ticks, mosquitoes and other pests.

“Mosquitoes, ticks, fleas can all carry very serious diseases that are life-threatening,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, a professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

A report from the National Association of County and City Health Officials says 84% of programs to control diseases from mosquitoes need improvement. In 18 states, every program is falling short.

These programs often aren’t well-funded and aren’t equipped to do proper surveillance or prevention, Redlener said.

“We’re, simply put, not ready, and we should be,” he said.

Redlener and other experts have criticized President Trump for ignoring climate change, part of the reason for the proliferation of pests that carry diseases. (Please see my comment at end of article)

“We have to wonder why the president and the administration [are] not taking this issue more seriously,” he said.

The White House declined to comment on climate change, referring questions to the CDC, which makes clear on its website that climate change increases the number and geographic range of disease-carrying insects and ticks.

The White House statement also said the President takes such diseases seriously, requesting more than $49 million to fight them next year, an increase of $11 million over this year.

Back at Indian Head Camp, as the campers arrive on Saturday, they’re hoping for another summer without a tick bite.

“We’re ready,” Rutkowski said. “We just can’t wait to get them here.”

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**Comment**

There are many things to complain about; however, “climate change” in regards to ticks and proliferation of disease isn’t one of them:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/14/canadian-tick-expert-climate-change-is-not-behind-lyme-disease/

How about we start doing good, unbiased science and get some answers?  

And there are far more guilty people (CDC, IDSA, and patent holders sitting on boards making decisions for patients) behind the denial of this plague and far more responsible for it than the president:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/11/15/lyme-patients-file-lawsuit-against-idsa-and-insurers-over-treatment-denials/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/14/corruption-human-rights-violations-against-lyme-doctors-scientists-and-parents-now-on-united-nations-record/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/13/1st-officially-recognized-report-on-violations-of-lyme-patients-human-rights-is-released-updating-borreliosis-diagnostic-codes/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/05/15/news-release-on-57-1-million-lyme-disease-lawsuit-filed-against-cdc/

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks, Uncategorized