Dan Wolff, aka: “Tick Man Dan,” wore a tie emblazoned with images of ticks to his wedding. He regularly wears shirts and even a wristwatch with pictures of the arachnids on them. He has two tattoos of the creepy, blood-sucking pests permanently inked onto his left leg. He even goes on tick hunting expeditions, and he keeps jars of them around his home. This may strike some people as weird, but for Wolff, they’re conversation starters on a subject he’s passionate about. Plus, it’s part of how he makes his living. Tick Man Dan’s mission is simple: to educate the public on the dangers posed from the diseases and parasites carried by ticks, and to promote his brand, TickEase. The company makes a set of specialty tweezers designed by Wolff himself that are meant specifically for the removal of ticks and their nymphs once embedded in a person.
When I spoke to Wolff via Zoom from his home in Massachusetts, I learned more about ticks in one 40-minute sitting than I had learned my whole life. We spoke about TickEase and their Tick-Kits, proactively preventing issues, and his general enthusiasm for these tiny creatures that are capable of causing such big problems. (See link for article)
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SUMMARY:
Out of necessity, Wolff created Tickease when he couldn’t find a good tick removal device – particularly for an embedded nymph (which is as small as a poppy seed).
Unfortunately Wolff regurgitates the “warmer weather gets more ticks” mantra – essentially propelling the ‘climate change’ myth regarding tick and disease proliferation.
Ticks are marvelously ecoadaptive and can survive virtually all weather by burrowing under leaf litter and snow – and anything else they can find.
The repeated mantra of “climate change”, wildlife proliferation, and surburban sprawl ignores the very real spreading of ticks by our own government who has experimented on ticks for decades.
Willy Burgdorfer, the “discoverer” of Lyme disease was a researcher at the Rocky Mountain laboratory where he weaponized ticks by force-feeding them numerous pathogens.
Ticks can be active year-round – proving their ecoadaptability. They can go into a dormant state called diapause due to a anti-freeze-like substance in their bodies which actually feeds the Lyme bacteria.
Wolff found ticks can wake up fast with a feeding frenzy if there are periods of cold interrupted by a sudden increase in temps. Please watch this short video demonstrating how quickly this can happen.
Wolff dispels the myth that it takes 36 hours for ticks to transmit Lyme. (It can happen in a few of mere hours)
He also points out that viruses can be transmitted in minutes and that ticks carry far more than just Lyme.
When removing a tick, do not agitate it or get the contents of the abdomen on you.
Ticks can cause similar problems amongst humans, spreading diseases like tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Lyme disease, as well as some other, lesser-known diseases like babesiosis and boutonneuse fever. In 2019, a Hyalomma tick even infected a man in North Rhine-Westphalia with typhus.
Beware of “flying ticks”
Between July and October, the deer louse fly is also active in Germany. Sometimes known as a “flying tick”, these critters make a beeline for their target and then shed their wings when they land, burrowing down, biting and sucking blood from their victims. The ticks usually target animals, but attacks on humans have been recorded. They prefer to bite humans on the scalp or neck and can cause allergic reactions and even heart infections.
Deer louse flies are usually found in forests in the summer and autumn. It is recommended to thoroughly check any pets after walks in case they have been bitten by ticks. Ticks can be located using a flea comb and removed with adhesive tape or washed away. Any animal that has been infested with ticks should be bathed and washed.
(See link for article)
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The deer ked(Lipoptena cervi) mainly parasitize elk and deer but also bite humans. It is unknown whether it serves as a vector for transmission but the following have been detected:
While male deer flies collect pollen, female deer flies feed on blood, which they require to produce eggs.[4] Females feed primarily on mammals. They are attracted to prey by sight, smell, or the detection of carbon dioxide. Other attractants are body heat, movement, dark colours, and lights in the night. They are active under direct sunshine and hours when the temperature is above 22 °C (71.6°).[4] When feeding, the females use scissor-like mandibles and maxillae to make a cross-shaped incision and then lap up the blood. Their bite can be painful. Anti-coagulants in the saliva of the fly prevents blood from clotting and may cause severe allergic reactions. Parasites and diseases transmitted by the deer fly include tularemia, anthrax, anaplasmosis, equine infectious anemia, hog cholera, and filiariasis. DEET is not an effective repellent.[2]
New records show spread of parasitic deer flies across the United States
Date:
May 31, 2019
Source:
Penn State
Summary:
With flattened bodies, grabbing forelegs and deciduous wings, deer keds do not look like your typical fly. These parasites of deer — which occasionally bite humans — are more widely distributed across the US than previously thought, according to entomologists, who caution that deer keds may transmit disease-causing bacteria.
With flattened bodies, grabbing forelegs and deciduous wings, deer keds do not look like your typical fly. These parasites of deer — which occasionally bite humans — are more widely distributed across the U.S. than previously thought, according to Penn State entomologists, who caution that deer keds may transmit disease-causing bacteria.
“It was more or less known where deer keds are found, but very broadly,” said Michael Skvarla, extension educator and director of the Insect Identification Lab in the Department of Entomology at Penn State. “We don’t know if deer keds transmit pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms), but if they do, then knowing where they are at more precisely could be important in terms of telling people to watch out for them.”
The researchers collated records of the four North American deer ked species and produced the most detailed locality map of these flies to date, documenting ten new state and 122 new county records. The researchers published their results in a recent issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology. They also provided an illustrated species-identification key.
The team harnessed citizen science — collection of data by the public — to gather deer ked records from the U.S. and Canada. In addition to scouring museum databases and community websites like BugGuide and iNaturalist, the team distributed deer ked collection kits to hunters as part of the Pennsylvania Parasite Hunters community project. The researchers also collected flies directly from carcasses at Pennsylvanian deer butcheries.
“I really like using citizen science information,” said Skvarla. “It often fills in a lot of gaps because people are taking photographs in places that entomologists may not be going. Deer keds are the perfect candidate for citizen science. They’re easy to identify because there’s only four species in the country and because they’re mostly geographically separated. And as flat, parasitic flies, they’re really distinctive. You couldn’t do this with a lot of insect groups because they’d be too difficult to identify from photographs.”
The European deer ked, Lipoptena cervi, thought to have been introduced from Europe, previously was reported to occur throughout the Northeast region. The researchers newly report this species from Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, and as far south as Virginia. In Pennsylvania, it occurs throughout the state, with 26 new county records.
The researchers also describe new records of the neotropical deer ked, L. mazamae, from North Carolina, Tennessee and Missouri — increasing its range further north and east than had previously been reported.
In western North America, two deer ked species, L. depressa and Neolipoptena ferrisi, are found from British Columbia through the U.S. and into Mexico — and as far east as South Dakota. The researchers newly report these species from Nevada and Idaho.
Deer keds are usually found on deer, elk and moose, but occasionally bite humans and domestic mammals. Although several tick-borne pathogens — including bacteria that cause Lyme disease, cat scratch fever and anaplasmosis — have been detected in deer keds, it is unknown whether they can be transmitted through bites.
“In Pennsylvania you have a lot of hunters,” said Skvarla.
“Deer keds can run up your arm while you’re field dressing a deer and bite you. If these insects are picking up pathogens from deer, they could transmit them to hunters. With two million hunters in the state, that’s not an insignificant portion of the population. We don’t want to scare people, but people should be aware there is the potential for deer keds to transmit pathogens that can cause disease.”
The researchers will next screen hundreds of deer keds for pathogens. They will also dissect some insects to screen the salivary glands and guts separately. According to Skvarla, this approach will give a good indication of whether deer keds could transmit pathogens through bites, or whether the bacteria are merely passed through the gut after a blood meal.
In Pennsylvania, after deer keds emerge from the soil each fall, they fly to a host and immediately shed their wings, usually remaining on the same host for life. Females produce just one egg at a time — it hatches inside her, and she feeds the growing larva with a milk-like substance. When the larva is almost fully developed, it drops to the soil and forms a pupa, eventually emerging as a winged adult. If disease-causing bacteria are transmitted from mother to offspring, newly emerged flies could pass on pathogens to hosts. Pathogens could also be spread when bacteria-harboring flies jump between animals in close contact.
The other researcher working on this project was Erika Machtinger, assistant professor of entomology at Penn State.
Lipoptena cervi, known as the deer ked, is an ectoparasite of cervids traditionally found in northern European countries such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Although rarely reported in the United States, this vector recently has been shown to carry Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophylum from specimens collected domestically. Importantly, it has been suggested that deer keds are one of the many disease-carrying vectors that are now found in more expansive regions of the world due to climate change. We report a rare sighting of L cervi in Connecticut. Additionally, we captured a high-resolution photograph of a deer ked that can be used by dermatologists to help identify this disease-carrying ectoparasite.
Practice Points
There are many more disease-carrying arthropods than are routinely studied by scientists and physicians.
Even if the insect cannot be identified, it is important to monitor patients who have experienced arthropod assault for signs of clinical diseases.
Case Report
A 31-year-old man presented to the dermatology clinic 1 day after mountain biking in the woods in Hartford County, Connecticut. He stated that he found a tick attached to his shirt after riding (Figure). Careful examination of the patient showed no signs of a bite reaction. The insect was identified via microscopy as the deer ked Lipoptena cervi.
Comment
Lipoptena cervi, known as the deer ked, is an ectoparasite of cervids traditionally found in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.1 The deer ked was first reported in American deer in 2 independent sightings in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire in 1907.2 More recently deer keds have been reported in Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.3 In the United States, L cervi is thought to be an invasive species transported from Europe in the 1800s.4,5 The main host is thought to be the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus viginianus). Once a suitable host is found, the deer ked sheds its wings and crawls into the fur. After engorging on a blood meal, it deposits prepupae that fall from the host and mature into winged adults during the late summer into the autumn. Adults may exhibit swarming behavior, and it is during this host-seeking activity that they land on humans.3
Following the bite of a deer ked, there are reports of long-lasting dermatitis in both humans and dogs.1,4,6 One case series involving 19 patients following deer ked bites reported pruritic bite papules.4 The reaction appeared to be treatment resistant and lasted from 2 weeks to 12 months. Histologic examination was typical for arthropod assault. Of 11 papules that were biopsied, most (7/11) showed C3 deposition in dermal vessel walls under direct immunofluorescence. Of 19 patients, 57% had elevated serum IgE levels.4
In addition to the associated dermatologic findings, the deer ked is a vector of various infectious agents. Bartonella schoenbuchensis has been isolated from deer ked in Massachusettes.7 A recent study found a 75% prevalence of Bartonella species in 217 deer keds collected from red deer in Poland.5 The first incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophylum in deer keds was reported in the United States in 2016. Of 48 adult deer keds collected from an unknown number of deer, 19 (40%), 14 (29%), and 3 (6%) were positive for B burgdorferi, A phagocytophylum,and both on polymerase chain reaction, respectively.3
A recent study from Europe showed deer keds are now more frequently found in regions where they had not previously been observed.8 It stands to reason that with climate change, L cervi and other disease-carrying vectors are likely to migrate to and inhabit new regions of the country. Even in the current climate, there are more disease-carrying arthropods than are routinely studied in medicine, and all patients who experience an arthropod assault should be monitored for signs of systemic disease.
Precisely how do ticks ambush you–and give you Lyme disease?
John Eoin Healy, PhD, now retired from University College Cork, Ireland, has been researching tick biology for over 40 years. In the following article and video, he explains how questing ticks make contact with unsuspecting people and animals.
by John Eoin Healy, PhD
Various estimates indicate that up to 60% of people who contract Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease) have no recollection of being bitten by a tick.
For those concerned about Lyme disease risk, it may be useful to explain how ticks make contact with and attach to host animals i.e. birds and mammals, including unfortunate humans.
The species of tick that transmits the Borrelia bacteria that cause Lyme disease are Ixodesricinus in Europe, and Ixodesscapularis and Ixodespacificus in North America. These ticks thrive in areas with woodland or heavy vegetation which provide the cool moist conditions that these ticks need to survive.
Their second vital requirement is a sufficient number of host animals (deer, cattle, sheep, goats, small mammals and birds) to ensure that ticks have hosts on which they can feed (that is, suck blood) and then reproduce. Increasing numbers of host animals such as deer will accelerate the growth of tick populations.
Ticks have limited mobility
At the risk of stating the obvious, ticks are wingless and therefore cannot fly. Neither can they run or jump. The species of tick that transmit the Borrelia bacteria that cause Lyme disease move very little laterally on the ground, that is, in the horizontal plane.
When a blood-fed larva (the first active life stage) drops from the skin of a bird or mammal, it moves directly downwards with the prospect of finding humid vegetation. There, it undergoes digestion and it moults into the next active life stage, the nymph.
If the larva happens to drop from its host onto a dry path or other unsuitable terrain, then it will most likely desiccate and die.
In the event of success, the emerged nymph will begin to seek a host. It does this by climbing vertically on whatever vegetation happens to be in the immediate vicinity.
Ticks don’t choose their location
Sometimes one may hear someone say, “Long grass is the only place you will find ticks” or, “Stay away from ferns – always ticks there” or some such warning, as if ticks choose the vegetation that they will climb. Ticks have no say in the matter – they simply climb whatever vegetational structure is available to them at the location that the previous life stage dropped from its host.
The behaviour and movements of host bird and mammal species dictate where ticks are deposited. So, a blood-fed larva will give rise to an emerging nymph, and a blood-fed nymph will produce an adult male or female. And of course, a blood-fed female will produce up to 2,000 eggs from which larvae will hatch.
I have conducted mass releases of paint-marked adult ticks in a prepared “arena” in a woodland clearing and then observed what happened. I found that the vast majority of individual ticks moved less than 2 metres from their release point, although a small number managed to travel 4 to 5 metres within 4 days.
The most interesting finding was that the majority of ticks somehow managed to locate vertical vegetation to climb within a short radius from the point of release.
Ticks have a finite fuel supply
Ticks waiting for a host to appear.
Ticks limit their horizontal movement for a very good reason – an economic one. A blood-fed larva that drops from a host has a finite energy supply of fat. Think of it as a full fuel tank. The more a tick moves, the more fuel it burns.
If it runs out of fuel before making contact with a host, then life ends for that particular tick. So, ticks have evolved a strategy to conserve their energy supplies by minimizing their movement. They climb vertically and wait … and wait … and wait.
Usually, they will position themselves at or close to the tip of a structure, whether it be a leaf, twig, bracken, grass or rush stem. Ticks can be found on vegetation from a few centimetres to almost 2 metres above ground level. When no hosts are nearby, ticks can assume a resting or “quiescent” position with front legs folded.
In the event of ticks becoming dehydrated, they will move downward into the moist vegetation mat to replenish their bodily water content, before climbing vertically once more.
Ambushing a host
Image shows a nymph and an adult female questing – front legs extended and raised. Another female is in the quiescent pose.
Ticks can detect the presence of a potential host by temperature, carbon dioxide and by various odours released from the skin of the host. Each of the front pair of legs has a specialised organ which is loaded with sensory cells for this purpose.
Once a tick detects the presence of a host animal, its behaviour changes. It will begin to move and adopt what is termed the “questing” pose.
A questing tick waves its front legs about as its scans the local atmosphere. It is most likely that it has the capability to determine the direction and distance from the approaching host although this has not been proven.
In a video clip which I shot in an infested woodland location, you can see how easily an adult female tick latches onto my finger.
The tick was initially in a quiescent position (saving energy) until I began to move my hand close to the rush stem on which it sat. Sensing my hand, and therefore a possible blood meal, it begins to quest as the video shows.
Note the ambushing strategy that this species has evolved – it doesn’t hunt its victim, it waits for the victim to pass close by. The smaller nymph behaves in exactly the same way.
I focused on an adult female for this video rather than a nymph simply because its size made it easier to capture on camera.
The video shows how easy it is for a tick to “jump on board” a passing human. The slightest brush of a hand, arm or leg against infested vegetation is all that is necessary.
Of course, ticks will also cling onto clothing and burrow through to the skin where they will penetrate and begin to suck blood. Bare wrists, arms and legs are the most vulnerable body parts so there is very good reason to use an appropriate tick repellent on these areas.
Light-coloured clothing makes visual detection of ticks much easier. And it is very important that clothing should be of a close weave as ticks will find this much more difficult to penetrate. I would also recommend that socks and walking boots/shoes be sprayed with repellent.
A note on adult and nymph ticks
The Ixodes ticks species that transmit Lyme disease have three active life stages – larva, nymph and adult. The general view among Lyme/tick specialists is that larvae carry very little Borrelia and so present a minimal risk to humans. Adult male ticks do not feed and so cannot transmit bacteria.
Nymphs pose the real threat. An unfed nymph is approximately 1.5 mm in size and weighs around 0.2 mg. In contrast, an unfed adult female can be 3.5 mm in length and 2 mg in weight – 10 times the weight of a nymph.
A person is much more likely to see and feel an adult tick on the skin than detect the smaller nymph. And once a tick has attached and has begun to suck blood, the smaller nymph may remain undetected for long enough to pass Borrelia into the unsuspecting victim. And of course, the small physical size and weight of the nymph explains why so many Lyme disease victims cannot recollect being bitten by a tick.
Dr. Healy’s expertise lies in the area of tick ecology, genetics, behavior and Borrelia infection rates. He has published in all of these fields. Click here for a list of his publications.
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**Comment**
While ticks can’t fly, they can blow in the wind. I’ve seen it.
And minimum attachment time has never been determined which means nobody has a clue how little of time it takes for a tick to transmit diseases to you. Treat each tick bite as seriously as a heart attack.
Birds vs. rodents in transmitting tick-borne pathogens
While white-footed mice are considered to be the primary reservoir for tick-borne pathogens, the role of birds as hosts in transmitting such infectious agents is not fully understood. A new study examines the transmission patterns in Canada between the two groups.
Researchers collected ticks and rodents from the Mont Saint-Bruno National Park in Quebec, an area endemic for Lyme disease. They aimed to identify:
Distribution of tick-borne pathogens B. burgdorferi, B. miyamotoi, and A. phagocytophylum in ticks and tick hosts;
Evaluate the contribution of birds as hosts to B. burgdorferi transmission compared with white-footed mice;
Determine risk factors for tick infestation and B. burgdorferi infectivity among hosts.
They collected 25,150 larvae, 4,177 nymphs and 232 adult blacklegged ticks. And trapped 665 mice, 13 Eastern chipmunks, 15 Northern short-tailed shrew and one Red-backed vole.
The team found 470 (70.68%) mice, 12 (92.31%) chipmunks and 2 (13.33%) shrews infested with at least one tick. Ticks were not found on the only vole captured. Ticks collected from these small mammals were predominantly attached to the ears.
Approximately 70% of mice and 92% of chipmunks were infested with at least one tick, compared with 29% of captured birds.
Additionally, 849 birds belonging to 50 different species were captured. Researchers found ticks on 28.86% of the birds, “with the majority of these ticks removed from members of the Passerellidae (37.41%), Turdidae (31.11%) and Parulidae (17.04%) families,” writes Dumas.
How many hosts were infected with tick-borne pathogens?
When reviewing tick-borne pathogens detected in hosts tissue, the authors found 33.92% of mice were positive for B. burgdorferi, 0.48% for B. miyamotoi and none for A. phagocytophilum.
Meanwhile, 84.62% of chipmunks were positive for B. burgdorferi, 15.38% for B. miyamotoi and 7.69% for A. phagocytophilum.
“Pathogens were not detected in any of the bird biopsies (n = 262),” the authors point out. However, birds may not be infected but they are responsible for carrying the ticks to new areas. They also supply a much needed meal for the ticks.
“Our results support the relevance of considering the role of hosts other than the white-footed mouse in eco-epidemiological studies of tick-borne diseases,” the authors suggest.
Dumas A, Bouchard C, Dibernardo A, et al. Transmission patterns of tick-borne pathogens among birds and rodents in a forested park in southeastern Canada. PLoS One. 2022;17(4):e0266527. Published 2022 Apr 7. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0266527
For far too long, the white-footed mouse has been given too much credit for the spread of ticks and TBIs. Many do not know that reptiles are also reservoirs. And birds can travel great distances dropping ticks along the way that are from other parts of the globe.
Trainee pilot from Suffolk died after mosquito bite, inquest hears
Image source, Family Photo
Image caption,
Oriana Pepper’s family said she “loved nothing better than to go flying”
A trainee commercial airline pilot died after she was bitten by a mosquito and developed an infection that spread to her brain, an inquest heard.
Oriana Pepper, 21, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, died five days after she was bitten while in Antwerp, Belgium last July.
Suffolk’s senior coroner Nigel Parsley said it was an “unfortunate tragedy for a young lady who clearly had a wonderful career ahead of her”.
(See link for article)
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**Comment**
I post this unfortunate story for a few reasons:
Ticks aren’t the only bugs that can kill you.
Location of the bite, IMO, is important. If you are bitten on the head, neuro/cognitive issues can develop sometimes within hours.
This woman was prescribed antibiotics but had to go back to the hospital where she collapsed and died only three days later.
Cause of death was recorded as septic emboli in the brain by staphylococcus aureus which is abundant on the body and usually harmless, but is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections such as boils, furnuncles, and cellulitis.
The cause of death also mentioned an “insect bite to the forehead also contributing.“
The article says nothing about insect-transmitted pathogens or if they tested her for them but which probably played more of a role than is being given credit.
Mosquitoes carry EEE, whicc can cause severe brain inflammation and has a mortality rate of 30%. Many who do recover continuing to have neurological problems. Six Wisconsin counties have reported cases in horses.
…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.
I would like to point out the extreme hypocrisy regarding antibodies. Regarding COVID, the PCR, an unmitigated disaster has been used daily for over two years to pick up antibodies. This faulty test which was never intended to diagnose patients has been used to quarantine people even if they aren’t sick. When it comes to Lyme; however, finding antibodies in anything isn’t enough to prove infection. Now why is that?
Another ugly fly in the ointment is that according to Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Unit, Ukrainian biological laboratories researched fever-carrying Aedes mosquitoes, the same genus of insects that the US is thought to have used to start a pandemic of type 2 dengue in Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s which killed 158 people and infected 345,000. The type 2 dengue had never been reported in the Caribbean region and the only location on the island free from the infection was the Guantanamo US military installation.
“The facts of the use of Aedes mosquitoes as biological weapons, exactly the same species with which the US Pentagon worked in Ukraine, were recorded in a class-action lawsuit by Cuban citizens against the US government and were submitted for reviewing of the signatories to the Convention on the Prohibition of Biological Weapons”, Kirillov said. Source
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 