Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

Tick Prevention and Removal 2017

https://rawlsmd.com/health-articles/effective-tick-repellents-lyme-seasonutm_campaign=may+6+2017+rawlsmd+newsletter%3A+soul+doctor+%28LRvgrS%29&utm_medium=email&_ke=YWNhc2htYW5AY2hhcnRlci5uZXQ%3D&utm_source=master+rawlsmd+segment++%5Blive+-+2-26-17%5D  Dr. Rawls and Ellen Berman 4/19/17

How to Avoid Ticks

Stay on the trail. Ticks hide under moist leaf litter until climbing onto a blade of grass, a twig or branch. Once in dry air they don’t last very long. Open, unshaded areas, well-managed trails, and mowed yards free of leaf litter are less likely to harbor ticks.

Cover up. Before you venture outdoors, cover your body with clothing. Wear a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt, and pants all the way down to your feet.

Be extremely vigilant. Whenever you brush by vegetation, stop and check for the possibility of a tick crawling up your legs or body. Ticks are difficult to spot and some are smaller than a pinhead. Put on reading glasses if you need help spotting a tiny critter.

Treat your pets. All blood-sucking insects carry potential disease-causing microbes. Since pets bring ticks inside, have your pet regularly treated to reduce ticks and fleas.

WHEN YOU COME INDOORS:

Check your clothes for ticks. Tumble dry clothing on high heat for at least ten minutes.

Take a shower. Showering within two hours of coming indoors helps wash off unattached ticks and gives you a chance to thoroughly check your body.
Conduct a full body check. Be aware that ticks prefer warm, moist places, so pay special attention to armpits, in and around the ears, back of knees, between the legs, and around your hair.

New Picaridin Repellents Outperformed DEET

Update by Kathy White, MSW, April 3, 2017

To repel ticks and mosquitoes, the CDC website recommends permethrin (an insecticide) on clothing plus DEET or picaridin on exposed skin. Picaridin has been used for decades in other countries and is now available in the U.S. It is less toxic than DEET and is approved for children.

http://www.consumerreports.org/products/insect-repellent/ratings-overview/  This review will show you the active ingredient, effectiveness for mosquitoes and ticks, type, cost, and if it resists damage to materials.  

For instance the top 3 scores for deer ticks was:

  1. pump spray Sawyer Picaridin 20% which lasted 8.5 hours.
  2. aerosol Ben’s 30% Deet Tick and Insect Wilderness which also lasted 8.5 hours.
  3. pump spray Repel Lemon Eucalyptus which lasted 7 hours.

Oil of lemon eucalyptus is not for children under age 3. It can cause eye irritation. Natrapel with 20% picaridin (available at Target) also worked better than DEET. Repel Scented Family Repellent with 15% DEET worked better than Deep Woods Off with 25% DEET, perhaps because of the fragrance. These two DEET products were rated in the top 5. Ecosmart Organic repellent and IR3535 didn’t work too well. Citronella candles and wristbands and the natural oils geraniol, lemongrass, and rosemary didn’t work at all or lasted less than an hour.

Permethrin, an insecticide, repels ticks and insects. If ticks & insects touch it, they won’t bite and will drop off & die. Apply it to clothes (never skin), the outside of shoes, backpacks, tents, & sleeping bags. Follow label directions. Don’t spray it on the clothes of young children who put things in their mouths.   For more on Permethrin:  http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/permethrin

You can purchase treated insect shield clothing with permethrin already embedded or do it yourself:  http://npic.orst.edu/pest/mosquito/ptc.html

Does it work?  http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/should_i_wear_tick_repellent_clothing

Subjects wearing permethrin-treated sneakers and socks were 73.6 times less likely to have a tick bite than subjects wearing untreated footware. Subjects wearing permethrin-treated shorts and T-shirts were 4.74 and 2.17 times, respectively, less likely to receive a tick bite than subjects wearing untreated shorts and T-shirts. On subjects wearing untreated outfits, 97.6% of attached nymphs were alive, whereas signifcantly fewer (22.6%) attached nymphs were alive on subjects wearing repellent-treated outfits. 

http://www.consumerreports.org/insect-repellents/permethrin-treated-clothing-mosquito-bites/  Consumer Reports tests 3 brands and found that the clothing was less effective for mosquitoes after being washed.  No data on effectiveness for ticks.

https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/find-insect-repellent-right-you  The EPA also has this website; however, they do not endorse any product and rely upon the manufacturer’s honesty.  For instance, you can type in time you want to be protected (I typed in 5-8 hours), and insect (I typed in tick). I left all other boxes blank to get the most results.  The results were similar to the Consumer Report review, but check it out for yourself, realizing that there often is not third party testing.

You can also get Lyme EZ Tick Gaitors,  www.LymeEZ.com

https://player.vimeo.com/video/146926372“>

How to Remove a Tick:  http://www.tickencounter.org/prevention/tick_removal

  The steps to safely removing a tick start with a pointy tick removal tweezer. Most household tweezers have large, blunt tips in comparison to ticks. This only increases the chances of tearing the tick and spreading possible infections into the bite area.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/04/methods-of-tick-removal-a-systematic-review-of-the-literature/  (Use fine pointy tweezers or tick removal tool)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/07/02/nifty-tick-removal-and-how-to-check-for-ticks/ (Tick Ease removal tool and video)

Tick Removers:

A study at Ohio State University in 1995 compared the Pro-Tick Remedy to two other tick removers and tweezers. www.tickinfo.com The researchers found that the Pro-Tick Remedy was better than tweezers & the other tick removers at removing ticks with all the mouthparts intact, and did the best job of removing the cement. (Ticks inject “cement” to hold the tick in place while feeding. The cement isn’t known to cause health problems, but it can cause irritation until the body absorbs it. It causes a hard lump until it is absorbed, which can take a few weeks or more.) 
The report said, “While others (tick removers and tweezers) broke the tip of the hypostome and chelicerae (mouthparts) in at least one tick, the Pro-Tick Remedy succeeded in removing all 51 ticks without damaging any mouthparts . . . the Pro-Tick Remedy removed the most … cement while causing the least damage.”

A second study included Lone Star ticks, which have a longer hypostome and are harder to remove. All the tick removers tested did very well at removing adult ticks & were much better than tweezers for the tiny nymphs.  The Pro-Tick did better than any other tool tested at removal of nymph ticks.  It removed all the mouthparts of 72% of the Lone Star nymphs. Tweezers only removed all the mouthparts in 4% of the nymphs. The researchers concluded that tweezers should never be used for removing tick nymphs. The Pro Tick Remedy is sold at www.scs-mall.com, or you can buy it by sending a check for $6.50 payable to “Lyme Association of K.C.” to: Lyme Association of Kansas City, P.O. Box 25853, Overland Park, KS 66225.

 

 

 

Category:

Lyme, Testing, Ticks

Powassan – Another Reason to Avoid Ticks

Powassan Virus Is the Scary New Reason to Avoid Ticks
Amanda MacMillan
May 04, 2017

For more, visit http://time.com/time-health/.

http://time.com/4767290/powassan-virus-ticks/ (Video here)

Lyme disease isn’t the only tick-borne illness that can come from a walk in the woods. Health experts are warning that another pathogen, Powassan virus, can cause dangerous inflammation in the brain and may be transmitted to humans much faster than Lyme. While it is rare, a recent study of ticks in Maine, along with a few widely reported cases of human infection, suggest that it may be becoming more common. /react-text

What is Powassan virus?

The virus causes encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, and it kills about 10% of people who become sick, https://www.cdc.gov/powassan/symptoms.html.
About half of people are left with permanent neurological problems.

Powassan virus was first identified in 1958 and was first recognized in deer ticks, the type that bite humans and also carry Lyme disease, in the mid-1990s. About 75 cases have been reported to the CDC over the last 10 years, and most have been in the Northeast and the Great Lakes region. https://www.cdc.gov/powassan/statistics.html

One of those cases, in 2013, was a woman in Maine who died a few weeks after being bitten by a tick and contracting Powassan virus. Her diagnosis, along with two subsequent cases in the same county, prompted scientists at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute to test ticks at various sites across the state.

The researchers released their preliminary findings in April and told Bangor Daily News that, “We were kind of surprised that we found as much as we did.” Out of 203 different pools of adult ticks—meaning all of the ticks collected from a given area—15 tested positive for Powassan. The researchers also found that populations of deer ticks were increasing in several areas in the state. http://vitalsigns.bangordailynews.com/2017/04/26/home/tick-researchers-found-powassan-virus-in-these-maine-towns/

Another recent CDC case report detailed the first-ever diagnosis of a human Powassan infection in Connecticut: a 5-month-old baby who was admitted to the hospital in November 2016 for vomiting, fever and seizures. The baby’s parents reported that he had been bitten by a tick about two weeks earlier and estimated that the tick bad been attached for less than three hours. The baby spent a week in the hospital, and it took several months for him to fully recover.  https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6615a3.htm?s_cid=mm6615a3_w#contribAff

Should you be worried about Powassan virus?

This news, coupled with experts’ prediction that 2017 will be an especially bad year for ticks in the Northeast, is cause for concern. So is the fact that Powassan is deadlier than Lyme disease—and appears to be transmitted much faster. In animal studies, Powassan virus could be passed from tick to host after only about 15 minutes of attachment. For Lyme disease, it takes 24 hours. http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/03/06/518219485/forbidding-forecast-for-lyme-disease-in-the-northeast

***This statement about Lyme transmission time is not accurate.  Please see this article:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/14/transmission-time-for-lymemsids-infection/***

But Rafal Tokarz, associate research scientist at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, stresses that Powassan is still very rare, and says it’s too early to know for sure if Powassan is truly becoming more prevalent.

Tokarz’s own research, mostly on ticks in regions around New York City, has shown that only about 1% to 2% of ticks are infected with bacteria that cause the Powassan virus. That finding is consistent with most studies that have been done in other parts of the country, he says.  https://www.mailman.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/scientists-uncover-details-rise-tick-borne-disease-long-island

MORE: A New Cause of Lyme Disease Has Been Discovered
http://time.com/4212500/a-new-cause-of-lyme-disease-has-been-discovered/?iid=sr-link6

The recent report from Maine suggests higher numbers, but Tokarz points out that the researches tested entire pools at once. So while about 7% of tick pools tested positive for the virus, “there is no way to know how many ticks in each pool were infected,” he says. “It could be one out of 100, or it could be all 100.”

Nicholas Bennett, medical director of infectious diseases & immunology at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, says that an increase in reported Powassan cases may also be due to more doctors being aware of the virus and actually testing for it. Like all tick-borne diseases, he says, the CDC’s numbers are probably much lower than the actual number of infections that occur each year, because many go unsolved or misdiagnosed. In November, Bennett was instrumental in getting that 5-month-old baby tested and diagnosed at Connecticut Children’s. “I may have been the first doctor to pick up on a case of Powassan in this state, but I’m sure it wasn’t the first to see a case in this state,” he says. “This isn’t a virus that’s on our standard list of tests, or that we look for automatically.”

And while some Powassan infections become very serious, many other people only develop a mild illness or have no symptoms at all.

More research is needed to determine how worrying Powassan is. But, Bennett says, research does suggest that tick populations and tick-borne diseases in general are on the rise.

What to do if a tick bites you

If you are bitten by a tick, rushing to the doctor right away won’t do you much good, Bennett says. The tests for these viruses aren’t pleasant—they involve blood and spinal-fluid drawings—and may not show signs of infection for several days or weeks.

MORE: Why Bed Bugs Are Becoming So Much Harder to Kill
http://time.com/4733708/bed-bugs-insecticide-resistance/?iid=sr-link1

“It’s perfectly reasonable to wait and see if you develop symptoms,” he says. There’s not much doctors can do for people who aren’t seriously ill, anyway. Doctors do not have a cure for Powassan and can only monitor the symptoms and provide care like respiratory support and IV fluids.

“The good news is that if you or your child are feeling a little under the weather or have a low-grade fever, there’s a million other probably causes other than Powassan,” says Bennett. “But if there are neurological symptoms—weakness, dizziness, seizures—then it’s important to get to the doctor.”

How to avoid ticks

The CDC says that people should protect themselves from Powassan virus the same way they do other tick-borne illnesses: by wearing insect repellant when spending time in areas where ticks are present, inspecting clothing and skin afterward and bathing or showering upon returning home. If pets have been outdoors, make sure they’re inspected regularly as well.  https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/avoid/on_people.html

“Take precautions and be on the lookout for ticks whenever possible,” Tokarz says. “Whether it’s Powassan or something more common like Lyme or another tick-borne disease, you really don’t want to get any of them.”

 

Category:

research, Ticks, Viruses

US Soldier Acquires Tickborne Relapsing Fever Caused By B. Turicatae From a Ornithodoros Turicata Tick

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/23/5/16-2069_article

Christensen AM, Pietralczyk E, Lopez JE, et al. Diagnosis and Management of Borrelia turicatae Infection in Febrile Soldier, Texas, USA. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2017;23(5):883-884. doi:10.3201/eid2305.162069.

Abstract

In August 2015, a soldier returned from field exercises in Texas, USA, with nonspecific febrile illness. Culture and sequencing of spirochetes from peripheral blood diagnosed Borrelia turicatae (a species of borrelia) infection. The patient recovered after receiving doxycycline. No illness occurred in asymptomatic soldiers potentially exposed to the vector tick and prophylactically given treatment.

Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) was first reported in the United States >100 years ago but is often difficult to identify, given its rarity and variety of clinical presentations (1,2). We describe a case of culture-confirmed TBRF caused by Borrelia turicatae acquired by an Army soldier during a military training exercise in Texas, USA.

The patient was a 31-year-old white man with no relevant medical history. In August 2015, he sought care at the Eglin Air Force Base Hospital (Valparaiso, Florida, USA) with a 5-day history of fever (102°F), chills, and myalgias. He reported headache and nausea but no vomiting or diarrhea. He denied localized joint pain, redness, or swelling but had discomfort in both popliteal fossae (back of both knees).

The patient had recently returned to Florida after a 30-day Army exercise under austere conditions in western Texas (Technical Appendix[PDF – 376 KB – 3 pages] Figure 1). Potential exposures included sleeping nude in a sleeping bag on the floor of an abandoned barn that had been cleared of infestation with rabbits, rodents, birds, and bats; having eaten boar that had been slaughtered, dressed, and cooked over an open flame; and consuming water procured from a well, bottled sources, and at times through a LifeStraw http://lifestraw.com/. Approximately 1 week before admission, he had noted multiple skin lesions, including scattered, presumed insect bites along his left leg and a small lesion at his urethral meatus (where urine exits). He denied any history of genital lesions and had not seen any biting insects. After 6 days, the lesions spontaneously resolved.

In a Texas emergency department, the initial diagnosis was viral syndrome, and a rapid influenza test result was negative. The fever persisted despite administration of antipyretics. After 2 days, the patient returned to the hospital, where he received only symptomatic treatment. No tests were ordered. After another 2 days, he sought care from his unit physician. Laboratory tests showed marked thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) with 16 × 109 platelets/L (reference range 150–400 × 109 platelets/L). Spirochetes were seen on peripheral blood smear (Technical Appendix[PDF – 376 KB – 3 pages] Figure 2). He was referred for hospital admission. Physical examination findings were unremarkable: no splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, or rash. Blood cultures and serologic testing for rickettsiae, HIV, dengue virus, Treponema pallidum, and plasmodia produced negative results. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (58 mm/h) and C-reactive protein level (>19 mg/L) were elevated. Electrolytes and transaminase levels were within reference ranges.

Serum samples collected at admission and 3 weeks later (≈5 and 26 days after illness onset, S1 and S2, respectively) were tested in parallel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases (Fort Collins, CO, USA) by enzyme immunoassay and Western blot (IgM and IgG) for TBRF antibody reactivity. Seroconversion was demonstrated by rising enzyme immunoassay values (S1 = 0.79, S2 = 2.41; equivocal range 0.64–0.91) and separate IgM and IgG Western blots (Technical Appendix[PDF – 376 KB – 3 pages] Figure 3). In addition, the samples demonstrated seroconversion (S1 = 0.91, S2 = 3.23; equivocal range 0.90 –1.09) against C6, an immunogenic antigen conserved among Borrelia spp. (Borrelia burgdorferi ELISA; Immunetics, Inc., Boston, MA, USA).

Spirochetes were successfully cultured, and genomic sequencing determined that B. turicatae was the causative agent (3). The patient improved rapidly with doxycycline, and platelet count normalized within 2 weeks. Ten asymptomatic soldiers with similar exposure were identified and prophylactically given doxycycline; 24 asymptomatic soldiers who had been in the area but not in the same barn as the patient were monitored closely. No additional illnesses were detected.

TBRF is a neglected and probably underdiagnosed disease. The vector, the Ornithodoros turicata tick (soft bodied tick – picture here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ornithodoros_turicata), is endemic to Texas and Florida (4); but although published cases in Texas have been supported by serology for the TBRF group, exposure location, and tick collections (4,5), to the best of our knowledge, successful identification of B. turicatae in a human has not been reported. Previously, B. turicatae has been isolated only from ticks and canids (foxes, wolves, dogs, jackals, and coyotes) in several areas of Texas (4–6).

The ecologic setting of the military exercises was predictable for high-risk exposure to the tick vector. TBRF attack rates >22% have been reported for group settings with sequelae severe enough to warrant hospitalization (7,8). Military training groups in Israel have declared certain caves off limits because of heavy tick presence (9) and have prophylactically administered doxycycline to those suspected to have been exposed (7). There has not been an association of Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction in asymptomatic patients receiving doxycycline (7), although this reaction is common during treatment of patients with active illness (9).

We identified several difficulties in epidemiologic awareness and diagnosis. There is overlap of bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens in location and nonspecific symptom presentations. The O. turicata tick bite is rarely noticed or reported because the vectors are rapid nocturnal feeders, attachment is painless, and often no lesions or ticks are discovered (10). This case report with successful isolation and genetic characterization of B. turicatae from the soldier (3) confirms that this spirochete species is a zoonotic pathogen. The initial misdiagnosis further indicates the neglected nature of this disease, especially in the military population.

Dr. Christensen is a second-year family medicine resident and medical officer in the US Air Force, stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Her research interests include infectious diseases as they affect military and operational medicine.

Acknowledgment

We acknowledge the help of Dolli Lane, Christopher Boyd, and Michael McFall in identifying bacteria on peripheral smears and definitively identifying this case.

References

  1. Meader CN. Five cases of relapsing fever originating in Colorado, with positive blood findings in two. Colo Med. 1915;12:365–9.
    2. Dworkin MS, Schwan TG, Anderson DE Jr. Tick-borne relapsing fever in North America. [viii–ix.]. Med Clin North Am. 2002;86:417–33, viii–ix. DOIPubMed
    3. Kingry LC, Batra D, Replogle A, Sexton C, Rowe L, Stermole BM, et al. Chromosome and linear plasmid sequences of a 2015 human isolate of the tick-borne relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia turicatae. Genome Announc. 2016;4:e00655–16. DOIPubMed
    4. Donaldson TG, Perez de Leon AA, Li AI, Castro-Arellano I, Wozniak E, Boyle WK, et al. Assessment of the geographic distribution of Ornithodoros turicata (Argasidae): climate variation and host diversity. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2016;10:1–19.
    5. Wilder HK, Wozniak E, Huddleston E, Tata SR, Fitzkee NC, Lopez JE. Case report: A retrospective serological analysis indicating human exposure to tick-borne relapsing fever spirochetes in Texas. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2015;9:e0003617. DOIPubMed
    6. Whitney MS, Schwan TG, Sultemeier KB, McDonald PS, Brillhart MN. Spirochetemia caused by Borrelia turicatae infection in 3 dogs in Texas. Vet Clin Pathol. 2007;36:212–6. DOIPubMed
    7. Hasin T, Davidovitch N, Cohen R, Dagan T, Romem A, Orr N, et al. Postexposure treatment with doxycycline for the prevention of tick-borne relapsing fever. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:148–55. DOIPubMed
    8. Jones JM, Schumacher M, Peoples M, Souders N, Horn K, Fox L, et al.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Notes from the Field: tick-borne relapsing fever outbreak at an outdoor education camp. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64:651–2 Morb Mortal Wkly Rep..PubMed
    9. Assous MV, Wilamowski A. Relapsing fever borreliosis in Eurasia—forgotten, but certainly not gone! Clin Microbiol Infect. 2009;15:407–14. DOIPubMed
    10. Boyle WK, Wilder HK, Lawrence AM, Lopez JE. Transmission dynamics of Borrelia turicatae from the arthropod vector. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014;8:e2767. DOIPubMed

For more on the military and Lyme/MSIDS:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/21/military-veterans-suicide-and-lymemsids/

Category:

research, Ticks

Co-infection of Ticks: The Rule Rather Than the Exception

http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0004539

Sara Moutailler, Claire Valiente Moro, Elise Vaumourin, Lorraine Michelet, Florence Hélène Tran, Elodie Devillers, Jean-François Cosson, Patrick Gasqui, Van Tran Van, Patrick Mavingui, Gwenaël Vourc’h, Muriel Vayssier-Taussat
Published: March 17, 2016  https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0004539

Abstract

Introduction

Ticks are the most common arthropod vectors of both human and animal diseases in Europe, and the Ixodes ricinus tick species is able to transmit a large number of bacteria, viruses and parasites. Ticks may also be co-infected with several pathogens, with a subsequent high likelihood of co-transmission to humans or animals. However few data exist regarding co-infection prevalences, and these studies only focus on certain well-known pathogens. In addition to pathogens, ticks also carry symbionts that may play important roles in tick biology, and could interfere with pathogen maintenance and transmission. In this study we evaluated the prevalence of 38 pathogens and four symbionts and their co-infection levels as well as possible interactions between pathogens, or between pathogens and symbionts.

Methodology/principal findings

A total of 267 Ixodes ricinus female specimens were collected in the French Ardennes and analyzed by high-throughput real-time PCR for the presence of 37 pathogens (bacteria and parasites), by rRT-PCR to detect the presence of Tick-Borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) and by nested PCR to detect four symbionts. Possible multipartite interactions between pathogens, or between pathogens and symbionts were statistically evaluated. Among the infected ticks, 45% were co-infected, and carried up to five different pathogens. When adding symbiont prevalences, all ticks were infected by at least one microorganism, and up to eight microorganisms were identified in the same tick. When considering possible interactions between pathogens, the results suggested a strong association between Borrelia garinii and B. afzelii, whereas there were no significant interactions between symbionts and pathogens.

Conclusion/significance

Our study reveals high pathogen co-infection rates in ticks, raising questions about possible co-transmission of these agents to humans or animals, and their consequences to human and animal health. We also demonstrated high prevalence rates of symbionts co-existing with pathogens, opening new avenues of enquiry regarding their effects on pathogen transmission and vector competence.

Author Summary

Ticks transmit more pathogens than any other arthropod, and one single species can transmit a large variety of bacteria and parasites. Because co-infection might be much more common than previously thought, we evaluated the prevalence of 38 known or neglected tick-borne pathogens in Ixodes ricinus ticks. Our results demonstrated that co-infection occurred in almost half of the infected ticks, and that ticks could be infected with up to five pathogens. Moreover, as it is well established that symbionts can affect pathogen transmission in arthropods, we also evaluated the prevalence of four symbiont species and demonstrated that all ticks were infected by at least one microorganism. This work highlights the co-infection phenomenon in ticks, which may have important implications for human and animal health, emphasizing the need for new diagnostic tests better adapted to tick-borne diseases. Finally, the high co-occurrence of symbionts and pathogens in ticks, reveals the necessity to also account for these interactions in the development of new alternative strategies to control ticks and tick-borne disease.

To which we all said AMEN!

A few notes on the study:  To see a chart showing exactly what coinfections and symbionts they looked at, go to the link for the study.  They looked at 6 strains of borrelia (Lyme), Anaplasma, Ricketssia helvetica, Bartonella, Babesia, and Neoehrlichia mikurensis (Order: Rickettsiales, Family: Anaplasmataceae).  The symbiots looked at were:  Wolbachia, Spiroplasma, Acinetobacter, and Midichloria mitochondri.

While I am unfamiliar with most of the symbionts, Wolbachia concerns me as scientists are actively inserting Wolbachia into mosquitoes and releasing them into the wild in efforts of eradicating Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, yellow fever, and possibly even Malaria.  While scientists claim Wolbachia, a gram-negative bacterium in the family of Rickettsiales, can not infect humans, they can and do infect worms which cause human disease.  Since nematodes have been found in ticks and many Lyme/MSIDS patients have to treat for worms, the question begs to be asked, “Does Wolbachia play a role in Lyme/MSIDS?”  This is a question I plan on writing about, but the answer could very well be, “Yes.”  I certainly pray that more research on Wolbachia in relation to Lyme/MSIDS is done as this could definitely be a fly in the proverbial ointment.

Lastly, I believe recorded coinfection numbers to be abysmally low.  My own LLMD doesn’t even test for them, he feels the tests are that poor.  Also, probably the numbers reflect the most severe cases – leaving many out.  As you are aware, coinfections are notorious for presenting differently than the textbook presentations that most doctors are familiar with. Dr. Horowitz writes and speaks about this often.

Published on Nov 3, 2014
At the “Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases” held May 17, 2014

37:30 You will only find a positive test for Babesia if the level of parasitima in the blood is greater than 5%.  38:05 Medical textbooks also state you should have hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and renal failure if you have Babesia.  Dr. Horowitz states he has not had one Lyme/MSIDS patient present this way.  

How many doctors are going to think outside their medical textbooks?

Category:

Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, research, Rickettsia, Testing, Ticks

More Powassan in Maine

http://vitalsigns.bangordailynews.com/2017/04/26/home/tick-researchers-found-powassan-virus-in-these-maine-towns/

Since 2013, when a Maine woman died from Powassan, two more cases have been reported there and have caused encephalitis, but thankfully, not death.

This has prompted a statewide survey to discern just how many Maine ticks carry it. The researchers were surprised at the results.  Results here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByNSaqVer3roR3QxQTU2MGRDbTQ/view

All three contracted Powassan during the adult tick seas in fall and early spring and 7% of the adult ticks carried the virus.  To date, Powassan has been found in the deer tick (deer tick virus) as well as the groundhog or woodchuck tick.  There’s evidence both strains are in Maine.

For more on Powassan:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/02/21/powassan-virus/

While transmission time for Powassan has been established to occur within about 15 minutes, I was very thankful that the article gave both the official word on transmission times for Lyme Disease (the erroneous 36-48 hours or more) as well as a link to an article about Dr. Nevena Zubcevik which debunks numerous myths, including the “official” transmission time myth. http://www.mvtimes.com/2016/07/13/visiting-physician-sheds-new-light-lyme-disease/

I recently wrote about this myth that needs to die:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/14/transmission-time-for-lymemsids-infection/  (Includes a great video by microbiologist Holly Ahern explaining in layman’s terms about transmission times and what the studies actually say)

Category:

research, Ticks, Viruses