Archive for the ‘Ticks’ Category

When It Comes To Ticks, Lyme Disease Is Only The Beginning

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a33337469/tick-meat-allergy/?

When it Comes to Ticks, Lyme Disease is Only the Beginning

The critters could be responsible for a wide range of health problems—including sudden allergies to meat.
BY JACQUELINE DETWILER-GEORGE

tickred meat photo illustration
THE LITTLEST BOOM BOX

ONE NIGHT in the late 1990s, Greg Gilbert, Ph.D., discovered he was allergic to meat. A forest ecologist and professor at UC Santa Cruz, he was working with the indigenous Guna people on the Caribbean coast of Panama to diagnose a disease in coconuts. At dinner, his host served him a stew made out of peccary, a hairy relative of the pig. Gilbert got violently ill and assumed he’d eaten something that either was unsanitary or had gone bad. The next time he visited the Guna and ate pig’s-feet soup, it happened again. That’s when he realized he hadn’t had a one-off reaction. He suffered an allergic response every time he ate meat.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Overall, decent article.  Their focus was the alpha-gal meat allergy caused by tick bites, which doesn’t get a lot of air play and I appreciated the fact they point out that Lyme is only one of many diseases you can get from ticks.  And while this fact is true, our ‘authorities’ haven’t gotten the memo.  They continue to treat this complex illness as a singularly-caused issue with an extremely limited mono-therapy which has failed time and time again, yet they follow the dogma as if their lives depended upon it.

It’s quite telling that while media stories like this have been coming out for some time now, our ‘authorities’ are truly in the dark ages in responding to it with appropriate research.  There is very little research on the overall effect of having multiple infections simultaneously, yet this is often what happens in reality.

Again, the sexy, accepted research is done on the acute phase of the disease as well as “climate change”.  These topics will not help patients suffering with persisting symptoms one iota.  We need to insist upon good, unbiased studies on issues that will improve patient outcome.  We need accurate tests, appropriate treatments, the effects of being infected with multiple pathogens, and so much more.

More on Alpha-gal:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/17/alpha-gal-syndrome-how-to-diagnose-treat-and-prevent-the-tick-borne-red-meat-allergy/

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

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/12/sudden-red-meat-allergy-made-eating-painful-for-mom-and-its-all-because-of-a-tick-bite/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/12/tick-related-red-meat-allergy-found-in-minnesota-wisconsin/  It’s in Wisconsin too.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/05/20/how-a-tick-bite-can-give-you-a-red-meat-allergy/

 

 

 

Category:

Alpha Gal Meat Allergy, Ticks

Nootkatone Registered by EPA -Insect Repellent Products Could Be Available by 2022

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USAEPAOPPT/bulletins/2998fd2

Pesticide Program Update: Nootkatone Now Registered by EPA

U.S. EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention sent this bulletin at 08/10/2020 

**Comment**

I posted on Nootkatone before:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/10/nootkatone/  Videos within.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/04/12/nootkatone-against-ticks/

This New York tTmes article explains more:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/health/tick-mosquito-repellant-nootkatone.html

  • Nootkatone is an oil found in cedar trees and grapefruit.
  • It’s considered safe and is used in food and perfume.
  • The EPA registration only applies to Nootkatone – not forthcoming products which will each need to be tested and registered.
  • The chemical repels mosquitoes, ticks, bedbugs, fleas and may be effective against lice, sandflies, midges, and other pests.
  • An ISU insect toxicologist found it to be an “impressive repellent but a weak insecticide.” It can kill insects but takes a vast amount of product making it impractical.
  • Nootkatone repels ticks better than synthetics and is their equal at repelling mosquitoes.
  • Unlike other natural products, it does not lose its potency after an hour but lasts as long as synthetics.

 

Category:

Activism, mosquitoes, Prevention, Ticks

FREE Webinars on Ticks, Lyme, & Prevention

https://extension.psu.edu/catalogsearch/result/?education_format=810&q=tick

EDUCATION

Tick Series: Hunters and Vector-Borne Disease - A Tick-ing Time Bomb

Tick Series: Hunters and Vector-Borne Disease - A Tick-ing Time Bomb - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Hunters and Vector-Borne Disease – A Tick-ing Time Bomb

Free
Attend this Live webinar to learn how to protect yourself from ticks and other vector-borne diseases this hunting season!
Tick Series: Protecting Your Horses from Tick Bites

Tick Series: Protecting Your Horses from Tick Bites - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Protecting Your Horses from Tick Bites

Free
Learn how to treat horses and their environments to prevent ticks with this live webinar!
Tick Series: Tick Risks for Pennsylvania Cattle

Tick Series: Tick Risks for Pennsylvania Cattle - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Tick Risks for Pennsylvania Cattle

Free
Learn how to control ticks in your herd with this webinar.
Tick Series: Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases

Tick Series: Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Diseases

Free
Tick prevention, treatment, and more will be covered in this Live webinar.
Tick Series: Protecting Yourself from Tick Bites

Tick Series: Protecting Yourself from Tick Bites - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Protecting Yourself from Tick Bites

Free
Learn how to prevent tick bites during this live webinar!
Deer tick, National Park Service.

Time to Talk Ticks: Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention - Webinars WEBINARS

Time to Talk Ticks: Symptoms, Treatment, and Prevention

RecordedJul 2, 2019

Length1 hour

Free
Two experts weigh in on a variety of tick-related topics, from tick habitats to common tick diseases, and how they affect horses.
Extension at Home: Preventing Tick and Mosquito Bites

Extension at Home: Preventing Tick and Mosquito Bites - Webinars WEBINARS

Extension at Home: Preventing Tick and Mosquito Bites

RecordedJun 17, 2020

Free
Join us for the Extension at Home webinar series to prepare and protect your outdoor sanctuary.
Tick Series: Vector-Borne Disease Basics

Tick Series: Vector-Borne Disease Basics - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Vector-Borne Disease Basics

RecordedJul 9, 2020

Free
Learn about the basics of vector-borne diseases in Pennsylvania during this live webinar.
Tick Series: Identification, Distribution, and Natural History

Tick Series: Identification, Distribution, and Natural History - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Identification, Distribution, and Natural History

Learn about the many species of ticks found in Pennsylvania during this live webinar.

Tick Series: Tick Protection Around the Home

Tick Series: Tick Protection Around the Home - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Tick Protection Around the Home

Join our informative webinar to learn how to protect you and your family from tick bites while still enjoying your backyard this season!
Tick Series: Ecology and How to Approach Tick Control

Tick Series: Ecology and How to Approach Tick Control - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Ecology and How to Approach Tick Control

RecordedJul 30, 2020

Free
This live webinar will discuss tick development, hosts, and where ticks are found.
Tick Series: Protecting Pets from Tick-Borne Disease

Tick Series: Protecting Pets from Tick-Borne Disease - Webinars WEBINARS

Tick Series: Protecting Pets from Tick-Borne Disease

Ticks carry diseases that can greatly affect the health of your pets. Learn how to protect your pets from tick-borne diseases during this informative webinar.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Prevention, research, Ticks

Tick-borne Virus: All You Need to Know About the Disease That Has Killed 7 in China

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/tick-borne-virus-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-disease-thats-killed-7-in-china/

Tick-borne virus: All you need to know about the disease that has killed 7 in China

Belonging to the Bunyavirus category, China isolated the pathogen of the virus first in 2011. First identified in China, the virus has also been reported in Japan and Korea.
AP

Beijing: A new tick-borne virus has killed seven and infected 60 others, Chinese media reported, warning about the imminent possibility of human-to-human transmission.

More than 37 people in East China‘s Jiangsu province contracted the SFTS Virus in the first half of year 2020. Later, 23 people were found infected in East China’s
Anhui province, Global Times quoted media reports. (See link for article)

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**Comment**
While the world is fixated on COVID, there are other viruses that are deadly, and SFTS is one of them.
Important points:
  1. Symptoms include fever, coughing, thrombocytopenia (low platelets), leukcytopenia (love white blood cells), neurological issues and gastrointestinal disorders.
  2. SFTS has a 30% fatality rate.
  3. The Asian Longhorned tick appears to be the culprit which is now spreading across the U.S. ,despite the weather, by migrating birds.
  4. They don’t know if human to human transmission occurs.
  5. Since this was first isolated in 2011 you would think we would have better answers for something that kills 30% of the people it infects….

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/11/death-from-tick-borne-virus-sfts/  This article states the woman may have been infected by the bite from a cat.  If this is true, human to human transmission is highly probable.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/09/12/three-surprising-things-i-learned-about-asian-longhorned-ticks-the-tick-guy-tom-mather/  We need answers on this tick fast because they line up on a blade of grass like a cluster-bomb.  Brush against it and you have hundreds if not thousands of ticks on you all at once.
And while researchers are quick to report it transmits Lyme disease rarely, it’s still a possibility:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/10/26/researchers-conclude-asian-longhorned-tick-contributes-minimally-to-lyme-disease-in-the-u-s/
uninfected H. longicornis larvae could acquire B. burgdorferi s.s. while feeding on infected Mus musculus mice (infection prevalence >50% in freshly fed larvae) but that the infection was lost during the molt to the nymphal stage. None of 520 tested molted nymphs were found to be infected, indicating that transstadial passage of B. burgdorferi s.s. is absent or rare in H.
This tick should be a grave concern to all of us.

Category:

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Transmission, Viruses

Allegheny County’s Tick Collector Warns of Lyme Disease Risks

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/environment/2020/08/07/ticks-Lyme-disease-risks-Allegheny-County-blacklegged-tick/stories/

Leah Lamonte, vector control specialist for the Allegheny County Health Department, looks for blacklegged ticks in their nymph stage after dragging a cloth along a trail in Hartwood Acres on July 30, 2020, in Allison Park.

Allegheny County’s tick collector warns of Lyme disease risks

Pam Panchak / Post-Gazette
AUG 7, 2020

After dragging a swath of white cloth the size of a doormat through the forest duff along a shaded, onetime bridle trail now well used by walkers and joggers in Hartwood Acres county park, Leah Lamonte had her tweezers out.

Ms. Lamonte is the vector control program coordinator for the Allegheny County Health Department, and the specks she plucked from the “drag cloth” last week looked like smudges of finely ground black pepper. Except they were moving.

As she delicately grabbed each tiny crawling dot and dropped it into a clear plastic vial filled with alcohol, she explained that she was collecting ticks, especially blacklegged ticks, the kind that carry Lyme disease and pass it to thousands of Pennsylvanians every year.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Important takeaways:

  1. Lamonte states she’s finding ticks in every one of the city and county parks.
  2. She rightly assumes that every time she’s been in a park she’s been exposed to Lyme (if not other things as well).
  3. According to their results, 25% of nymphal deer ticks carry Lyme, while 50% of adults do. She states this is because adults have had two blood meals thereby increasing their risk.
  4. 4% carry Anaplasma
  5. 1% carry Babesia
  6. They repeat the mantra that a tick has to be attached for 36-48 hours when minimum attachment time has NEVER been determined.  I show here that within 4-6 hours a little girl couldn’t walk or talk after a tick bite:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/14/transmission-time-for-lymemsids-infection/  It’s also been shown that ticks partially feed, drop off, and then attach to a new host. These partial feeders are able to transmit much more quickly:  m.org/content/iai/61/6/2396.full.pdf  and a more recent 2019 article:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/26/three-strains-of-borrelia-other-pathogens-found-in-salivary-glands-of-ixodes-ticks-suggesting-quicker-transmission-time  This study was in castor bean ticks – still in the Ixodes family.
We really need to stop saying a tick has to be attached for hours and hours – giving people a false sense of security.

 

 

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks, Transmission