Archive for the ‘Transmission’ Category

First Identification in China of Guertu Virus From Ticks

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29802259/

A novel tick-borne phlebovirus, closely related to severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus and Heartland virus, is a potential pathogen.

Shen S, et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2018.

Abstract

Tick-borne viral diseases have attracted much attention in recent years because of their increasing incidence and threat to human health. Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome phlebovirus (SFTSV) and Heartland virus (HRTV) were recently identified as tick-borne phleboviruses (TBPVs) in Asia and the United States, respectively, and are associated with severe human diseases with similar clinical manifestations. In this study, we report the first identification and isolation of a novel TBPV named Guertu virus (GTV) from Dermacentor nuttalli ticks in Xinjiang Province, China, where TBPVs had not been previously discovered. Genome sequence and phylogenetic analyses showed that GTV is closely related to SFTSV and HRTV and was classified as a member of the genus Phlebovirus, family Phenuiviridae, order Bunyavirales. In vitro and in vivo investigations of the properties of GTV demonstrated that it was able to infect animal and human cell lines and can suppress type I interferon signaling, similar to SFTSV, that GTV nucleoprotein (NP) can rescue SFTSV replication by replacing SFTSV NP, and that GTV infection can cause pathological lesions in mice. Moreover, a serological survey identified antibodies against GTV from serum samples of individuals living in Guertu County, three of which contained neutralizing antibodies, suggesting that GTV can infect humans. Our findings suggested that this virus is a potential pathogen that poses a threat to animals and humans. Further studies and surveillance of GTV are recommended to be carried out in Xinjiang Province as well as in other locations.

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**Comment**

More and more research showing viruses in ticks is coming out.  I pray authorities are taking note.  While the viruses may or may not cause direct symptoms, they certainly must be considered in patient cases as the overall immune system will be impacted and have the potential to make cases more severe.  We desperately need research in this area.

Many practitioners find patients improve when anti-viral medications are used and the immune system is strengthened.

**For more on Thrombocytopenia Syndrome** https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/20/11/14-0888_article

(SFTS) is a newly emerging infectious disease. Symptoms and laboratory abnormalities are fever, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), leukocytopenia (low white blood cell count), and elevated liver serum enzyme levels. Multiorgan failure occurs in severe cases, and 6%–30% of case-patients die. The syndrome is caused by the SFTS virus (SFTSV) (genus Phlebovirus, family Bunyaviridae). SFTS case-patients were first reported in China (1) and more recently were reported in Japan (2) and South Korea (3). Two case-patients with symptoms consistent with a similar virus, Heartland virus, were reported in the United States (4).

Ixodid tick species are implicated as vectors of SFTSV (1,5,6). One study described a SFTSV prevalence in Haemaphysalis longicornis ticks, a major vector of SFTSV, of 0.46% minimum infection rate in South Korea (7); in another study, SFTSV was detected in ticks that had bitten humans (6). From these studies, we realized that SFTSV was common throughout the country. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of SFTS in South Korea and isolate the SFTSV to analyze its phylogenetic properties.
The major signs and symptoms of the 35 case-patients, including fever (100%), gastrointestinal symptoms (74%), fatigue (74%), thrombocytopenia (100%), and leukocytopenia (100%), were similar to those of case-patients in China and Japan (9).

It is mentioned that the “Asian” SFTSV and the “U.S.” HRTV have similar clinical manifestations.

Please know that ticks do not regard borders and are being transited everywhere by migrating birds and other mammals and even reptiles.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/08/hemorrhagic-fever-virus-found-on-ticks-on-migratory-birds/  An example of Hemorrhagic fever virus on ticks on migratory birds.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/19/monster-ticks-found-in-germany-threaten-europe-with-deadly-disease-crimean-congo-fever/  This recent article shows a tick with a disease that shouldn’t be in Germany but is.  They also found one tick to have a tropical form of tick typhus.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/11/death-from-tick-borne-virus-sfts/  1st recorded death in Japan from SFTS and the patient didn’t even have a tick bite but rather a cat bite demonstrating the first recorded mammal to mammal transmission.

The aforementioned haemaphysalis longicornis (Asian Longhorned tick or bush tick) tick is in now in at least 7 U.S. states:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/19/rutgers-racing-to-contain-asian-longhorned-tick/.  So again, although it’s considered an Asian tick it’s here which means the potential to transmit the diseases considered “Asian” could be here as well.

Category:

research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission, Viruses

Monster Ticks Found in Germany Threaten Europe With Deadly Disease – Crimean-Congo Fever

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1004232/disease-Crimean-Congo-fever-germany-monster-tick

MONSTER ticks found in Germany threaten Europe with DEADLY disease Crimean-Congo fever

A MONSTER tick species has found its way to Germany and threatens to spread DEADLY tropical disease Crimean-Congo fever across the whole of Europe.
By Sean Martin
tick
MONSTER ticks found in Germany threaten Europe with DEADLY disease Crimean-Congo fever (Image: Universitat Hohenheim)

 

Scientists in Germany have discovered a tropical tick which can grow up to an INCH LONG – 10 times bigger than a common tick.

The ticks, known as Hyalomma marginatum have the potential to spread the viral disease Crimean-Congo fever (CCHF).

Symptoms of CCHF include fever, muscle pains, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, and bleeding into the skin. A QUARTER of those contracting Crimean-Congo fever will die.

Researchers have blamed the unusually hot weather over Europe for the cause of the ticks movement northwards as more birds have migrated to Europe following the scorching temperature. (Please see comment at end of article)

The ticks were found in farmyard animals including horses.

Seven of the species were discovered this year – previously there have only been two examples of tropical ticks in Germany, one in 2015 and another in 2017.

Scientists are now concerned that as the warm temperatures continue to become more common in Germany, France and the UK the ticks could settle there and migrate across Europe permanently.

Parasitologist Ute Mackenstedt from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart said: “We assume that we have to reckon with more and more tropical species of ticks in Germany that can settle here due to good weather conditions.”

crimean congo fever

Symptoms of CCHF include fever, muscle pains, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, and bleeding (Image: GETTY)

Dr Lidia Chitimia-Dobler, tick expert at the University of Hohenheim and the Institute for Microbiology (IMB) of the German Federal Armed Forces in Munich, said: “Five of the seven ticks we can determine beyond doubt, four are the species Hyalomma marginatum and one of the kind Hyalomma rufipes.

“We did not expect ticks here in Germany at this time.”

Dr Gerhard Dobler, physician and microbiologist at the IMB, added: “In one of the specimens found, we were able to prove the pathogen of a tropical form of tick typhus.”

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**Comment**

For another read on this monster tick in Germany:  https://www.dw.com/en/scientists-find-dangerous-tropical-ticks-in-germany/a-45086012  There is a video in the article that cites Lyme is easily cured with a couple weeks of antibiotics, yet treatment failures have been noted since the beginning of time.

They admit that they don’t even know what pathogens are transmitted in Germany, and that new ticks are cropping up there.

Please know that independent tick researcher John Scott has shown climate change has nothing to do with tick expansion or the spread of Lyme/MSIDS:   https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/

Scott shows that migratory birds are serving as transits carrying infected ticks all over the world, even in places where there aren’t any white-footed mice. He also shows numerous fallacies with the climate models – particularly the fact they don’t include important data.  In the end ticks are marvelous ecoadaptors and research has they can survive the harshest of conditions.  What does affect them is lack of light (photo period).  

https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/crimean-congo/index.html Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) can be transmitted to humans through infected ticks, animal blood, and infected human blood and/or bodily fluids (so human to human). CCHF has also been spread in hospitals due to improper sterilization.  Fatality rate in hospitalized patients has ranged from 9-50%.  Being a virus, care is supportive; however, it is sensitive in vitro to ribavirin, an anti-viral drug.  Recovery is slow.

Signs and symptoms:

  • Sudden onset of symptoms
  • headache
  • high fever
  • back pain
  • joint pain
  • stomach pain
  • vomiting
  • red eyes
  • flushed face
  • red throat & petechiae (red spots on palate are common)
  • jaundice
  • mood changes
  • sensory perception
  • severe bruising
  • sever nosebleeds
  • uncontrolled bleeding at injection sites

Please note the last quote of the story – that they proved a tropical form of tick typhus in one of tropical ticks found in Germany. Typhus, a bacteria, is making a comeback, particularly in the South. Common in the U.S. in the 40’s, and normally attributed to lice, now it’s been proven to be in a tick. In other words, another disease and a tick found where they supposedly shouldn’t be.

Typus is a rickettsial infection with ticks carring numerous species including rickettsia, ehrlichia, and anaplasma. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is also considered a tick-borne typhus fever.  https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/rocky_mountain_spotted_fever/fact_sheet.htm

Divided into the typhus group and the spotted fever group, disease is transmitted through ectoparasites (fleas, lice, mites, and ticks). Inhalation and inoculating conjunctiva with infectious material can also cause disease.  The good news for most is that doxycycline is a front-line drug for it.  Broad-spectrum antibiotics aren’t helpful.

 

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Ehrlichiosis, Rickettsia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Transmission, Treatment, Viruses

Why Do Officials Continue to Deny Gestational Lyme?

https://www.lymedisease.org/gestational-lyme-faber/

Why do officials continue to deny the reality of gestational Lyme?

by Sue Burke Faber

Aug. 2018

I’ll never forget a couple of years ago when our whole crazy Lyme journey began. I had been diagnosed here in Canada with positive two-tier tests for a European strain of Lyme and one of our daughters also tested positive by Canadian serology for European Lyme, but without travel history to Europe.

I thought this was a great example of possible maternal-fetal transmission and brought it to the attention of my local public health unit. They weren’t so excited.

My concerns were relayed in writing to a senior health official at Public Health Ontario (who is not a physician or a clinician). He called the local region back and told them to promptly close my daughter’s file and that he did not consider maternal-fetal transmission be a mode of exposure. That was it, case closed.

Sometime later, I was to receive an official letter in the mail from Public Health stating that both my case and my daughter’s case would not be counted in the Canadian statistics as confirmed OR probable cases of Lyme disease. It was a slap in the face and made no sense whatsoever.

That wasn’t all. The letter went on to say that they (Public Health) had done a literature search on congenital transmission of Lyme disease and ‘no scientific evidence to support congenital Lyme disease transmission in the scientific literature was found.’ They also included a list of the articles that they had reviewed.

I looked at the list and felt sick. They had listed articles including the very first case report from 1985 – which clearly described unequivocal evidence of congenital transmission – as well as case reports of deceased babies with overwhelming spirochetosis in their organs and tissues. Their conclusion just didn’t make ANY sense.

I picked up the phone and called my local health unit. I was practically in tears. I asked to come in and speak in person with the region’s chief medical officer. I wanted to show them the full articles and case reports, which clearly described this alternate mode of transmission.

I was denied a face-to face meeting but offered a 30-minute call. I asked the chief medical officer if they had actually reviewed the documents which were listed the letter to me. I was told that wasn’t their job. I was also told to follow up with my family doctor if I had any further concerns and no further action was taken.

This complete ignorance and lack of engagement ignited a fire deep within my spirit for justice – not just for the sake of my own children, but indeed all the families struggling to get recognition and care for their children. I was determined that this placating, paternalistic, rigid denial would not continue to be the narrative – and if things were going to change, I would have to dig deep into the literature to prove the truth for myself.

And I did.

It has taken two years and the support of some incredible people helping me find and access the original peer-reviewed research. Research which clearly documents transplacental transmission, in fact Canadian documentation by Health and Welfare Canada that documents transplacental transmission. An entire chapter in a reference medical textbook devoted to an in-depth analysis of the literature at the time of maternal-fetal transmission and its serious implications and need for further research.

And as I started reading, digging, analyzing and processing the literature, the anger which had indeed ignited my journey transitioned and was replaced by unbridled passion. Passion to ensure that the truth be brought to the surface and that this truth be handed to the right people with integrity and influence, to answer the hard questions and start tackling this issue.

Rigid denial is no longer an option. Ignorance cannot stand up to truth. Evidence demands a verdict and, that verdict is not that maternal-fetal transmission is plausible or possible, but rather, it has been described and proven and agreed upon by scientists, researchers and physicians alike.

It is clear that further research and urgent investigation of transplacental transmission of Lyme disease is needed and requires an all-hands-on-deck, streamlined, multi-disciplinary approach. We need a patient-first, evidence-based integrative model of bringing together patients with lived experience, front-line clinicians, researchers and scientists – to examine the issues and dig broader and deeper together.

This must be a process which is firmly anchored in transparency, integrity and scientific rigor, with patients as trusted partners.

Frontline healthcare professionals and mothers themselves need to be aware of the risk of maternal-fetal transmission. Families who come forward and identify that they are concerned that Lyme could have been passed on to their children need to be taken seriously.

Urgent action is needed.

At LymeHope, we have respectfully asked to be partners with the Public Health Agency of Canada as its mandate is “to promote and protect Canadians’ health by preventing and controlling chronic and infectious diseases and injuries as well as preparing for and responding to public health emergencies.”

Lyme disease is an infectious disease which is not only zoonotic (tick transmission) but has been proven and even documented by Canadian Federal Health authorities to be transferred from human-to-human, mother to child. There are also valid concerns that this disease could be transmitted sexually and through the blood supply.

This disease is affecting the lives and futures of Canadians, and we believe that PHAC has a duty and responsibility to all Canadians to act. We must not defer or wait for others to take a lead. They weren’t the ones to identify and amplify these issues in the first place – we at LymeHope were – when we first spoke at the Parliamentary Standing Health Committee in June 2017.

My testimony here: https://youtu.be/-gByuqmZBNk

I trust that this alternate mode of transmission will be recognized for what it is – in Canada, and an apology made to all those who have suffered as a result of this rigid denial of truth.

Babies have died, parents have grieved, childhoods have been lost, hearts have been broken, Lyme sufferers have ended their lives by suicide. The suffering, neglect and pain only continues to mount.

This is why I hold onto hope and I won’t stop. This is why I engage in a way which is respectful, asking for change makers, experts, policy makers and influencers to come together and examine the truth which exists and to take action. We need healing, restoration and reconciliation.

So for all the parents out there who have been told “there is no evidence” of maternal-child transmission, we have now done the work for you. Click on this link to access the document which has direct quotes from the medical and scientific literature on Lyme and Pregnancy/Congenital transmission.

https://www.lymehope.ca/advocacy-updates/march-03rd-2018

You can confidently share the evidence that does exist and ask again for help. Call your MP and MPP, speak to your respective professional associations and work within your sphere of influence.

Never give up. And remember, change will happen as we move forward together. One day at a time, one step at a time, one prayer at a time.

Sharing hugs to all the mamas today – who never give up hope for their littles.

Sue Burke Faber is co-founder of LymeHope, an advocacy organization in Canada.

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**Comment**

The head in the sand denialism is killing people.  We need to how ALL the tick borne illnesses are transmitted.  Somehow they can quickly determine Zika is transmitted STD, but they can’t seem to figure out if Lyme is despite it being found in vaginal secretions and semen:  https://f1000research.com/articles/3-309/v3.  Why isn’t work being done on this?  Wait!  I know the answer.  They are doing climate studies….

There’s been a denialism regarding other insects being able to transmit as well even though German researchers have found borrelia in mosquitoes:   https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/07/23/german-study-finds-borrelia-in-mosquitos/  DNA of Borrelia afzelii, Borrelia bavariensis and Borrelia garinii could be detected in ten Culicidae species (mosquitoes) 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.

Entomologists often point to a 30 year old ancient study by Magnarelli et al when denying other insects: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=3170711   Prevalence of infection for hematophagous insects (blood sucking) ranged from 2.9% of 105 Hybomitra lasiophthalma (horse fly) to 14.3% of seven Hybomitra epistles (horse fly) …Groups of 113 field-collected mosquitoes of Aedes canadensis and 43 Aedes stimulans were placed in cages with uninfected Syrian hamsters. Of these, 11 females of both species contained B. burgdorferi and had fed fully or partially from the hamsters. No spirochetes were isolated from the hamsters, but antibodies were produced in one test animal.

Again, why are we relying on a study covered with an inch of dust?  I know the answer to that too.  Climate studies…..

For more info on congenital Lyme:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/19/33-years-of-documentation-of-maternal-child-transmission-of-lyme-disease-and-congenital-lyme-borreliosis-a-review/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/24/congenital-transmission-of-lyme-myth-or-reality/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/02/24/pcos-lyme-my-story/  All my initial symptoms were gynecological.

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/15/pregnancy-in-lyme-dr-ann-corson/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/26/transplacental-transmission-fetal-damage-with-lyme-disease/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Transmission

New Tick Causes Epidemic of RMSF

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/new-tick-causes-epidemic-rocky-mountain-

New Tick Causes Epidemic of RMSF

By Maggie Fox

August, 15, 2018

A new kind of tick is causing an epidemic of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in Mexico, and it’s threatening to spread to the U.S., researchers said Wednesday.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is already dangerous, and the new carrier is more likely to bite people than the ticks that usually spread it, the team of U.S. and Mexican researchers said.

As ticks in general become more common as the climate warms, they’re a bigger threat, they added.  (Please see my comment after article) 

“Rocky Mountain spotted fever, caused by the bacteria Rickettsia rickettsii, is responsible for more human deaths than any other tick-borne disease in North America,” the team wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever was reported in 4,269 people in the U.S. in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can kill up to 10 percent of victims, depending on the outbreak.

It’s usually spread by the American dog tick and the closely related Rocky Mountain wood tick. But in recent years the bacterial infection has also been spread by the brown dog tick — a completely different species.

The researchers were investigating an epidemic of the infection that broke out in the border town of Mexicali starting in 2008. It’s already sickened at least 4,000 people, according to Mexican government estimates. Several hundred have died, and at least four people have died in the U.S. after crossing the border, according to this report and others.

“That’s a very big epidemic of a fatal disease,” said Dr. Janet Foley, an expert in the spread of animal-borne disease at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “There are likely thousands of cases.”

The infection is not always easy to diagnose in human blood. If people get a rash and other symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, the advice is to treat quickly with the antibiotic doxycycline. Other symptoms are similar to those caused by many infections and include fever, nausea and headache.

Working with a team at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in Mexicali, Foley and colleagues tested the blood of 16 patients to see if they could find a characteristic signature of the infection.

“I was absolutely startled,” Foley said in an interview. The people who had been sickened in Mexicali had a heavy load of the infectious agent in their blood — something that had not been seen in past outbreaks.

The epidemic is worrisome because the brown dog tick is more likely to bite people and it adapts easily to living in a house, as opposed to living on wild animals, the researchers said.

“The Rocky Mountain spotted fever epidemic in Mexicali has not been contained and may be spreading to other parts of Baja California and into the United States,” the team wrote.

And now it’s possible that for some reason, the infection the brown dog tick transmits is more virulent, Foley said.

“We need to study this tick more to understand why it makes people so sick,” she said. “This Mexican strain seems more willing to feed on people.”

It’s a big problem in a poor, crowded city like Mexicali, where many people and many dogs live. Foley said she visited neighborhoods there where dogs were infected with hundreds or even thousands of the ticks.

“It’s pretty bad,” she said. She described one dog that was homeless but being fed by the community.

“This dog had ticks everywhere. Every millimeter of ear tissue was covered with ticks. They were down her back,” Foley said.

The Universidad Autónoma de Baja California veterinary team tested dogs in the town and found that more than 80 percent were infected.

“One community I worked in tried to get rid of their dogs,” Foley said. “That was so sad. We shouldn’t have to go so far.”

The key is to stop the ticks from biting dogs, but that can be expensive, as flea spray and flea collars are costly.

It’s less of a threat in more affluent communities, where dogs are vaccinated, groomed and licensed, but people can travel with infected dogs.

“It can be a threat as people go back and forth across borders, especially with dogs,” Foley said. “The tick is present in the U.S. and is moving northward.”

More than 72 million crossings were made by people from Mexico into California in 2015 alone, a CDC team reported.

The CDC says tick-borne diseases are on the rise. “Overall, since 2000, in the United States, the incidence of Rocky Mountain spotted fever has reportedly increased fourfold,” Foley’s team wrote.

The brown dog tick may be in part responsible but it could be that testing methods have made a difference as well, they said.

________________

**Comment**

Ticks are NOT becoming more common due to warmer temps.  They are becoming more common due to migrating birds:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/13/study-shows-lyme-not-propelled-by-climate-change/  Warmer temperatures actually reduce tick populations.  Numerous studies have shown that temperature, pollution, and humidity doesn’t affect ticks.  Rather, something called “photoperiod” does.  Ticks require 14 hours to molt into the next stage of life. This study also shows numerous flaws in the climate models.  

The NBC article actually shows the importance of transit with people and dogs transiting ticks from one location to another.  Birds, other mammals, and even reptiles transit ticks across borders.  This is how ticks are traveling further.

Ticks are marvelous ecoadaptors and will seek out and hide in leaf litter or snow to survive.  The link above shows “Tick Guy” Tom Mather demonstrating how ticks can survive 3 degree temps in 24 hours when put under snow cover.

If we allow the false idea of climate driving ticks North to stand, there will be a misdirection of research funds that could go to important issues that could help patients.  For far too long we have had loads of climate data with no help what-so-ever to patients.  We are only lining the pockets of researchers who have a vested interest in pushing the climate issue.

For more on RMSF:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/10/first-rmsf-death-in-wisconsin/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/12/georgia-mom-warns-others-after-son-contracts-rocky-mountain-spotted-fever-after-tick-bite/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2015/08/13/severe-case-of-rmsf-had-to-remove-patients-arms-and-legs/

https://www.ommegaonline.org/article-details/THE-ROCKY-MOUNTAIN-SPOTTED-FEVER-AND-THE-NEW-PLAGE-OF-THE-21ST-CENTURY-THE-TICKS/1898

 

Category:

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ticks, Transmission

Study Shows: Lyme Not Propelled by Climate Change

Lyme Not Propelled by Climate Change

Recently, a plethora of books and articles have come out on how climate change is driving Lyme disease, and in fact, a recent article by The Center for Public Integrity, flat out accuses Maine’s governor, who happens to be a climate skeptic, of tying health officials’ hands and personally impeding valuable tick borne illness research:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/09/why-the-cpis-article-on-how-a-climate-skeptic-is-holding-up-tick-borne-illness-research-is-dead-wrong/.

It has become clear to many that there is a Pied Piper pushing a climate change agenda.

Standing in opposition to the flutist’s tune, a recent study shows that warm winters are lethal to I. scapularis (black-legged) ticks.  In fact, overwinter survival dropped to 33% when the snow melted.  This has been substantiated by other researchers as well.  Scott & Scott, 2018, ticks and climate change, JVSM

The short of it is that snow cover is vital for tick survival as it serves as a buffer for when ticks find themselves exposed.  Typically ticks will seek out and hide in snow or leaf litter when conditions become harsh.  Without this buffer they are exposed and fewer survive.

http://

“Tick Guy” Tom Mather shows how ticks survive 3 degrees in 24 hours with snow cover.

The flutists insist that global warming, climate change, and pollution are the reasons for the spread of ticks and Lyme disease.  Independent tick researcher John Scott states those hypotheses are unsubstantiated.

Scott offers that yearly bidirectional, songbird migration in spring and fall is behind tick expansion and that the climate change model actually reflects migratory flight not warmer futuristic temperatures.

An Acadian Flycatcher with larval neotropical ticks.  (Courtesy Tim Guida)

One of Scott’s studies found 35% of song-bird transported I. scapularis nymphs to be infected with B burgdorferi (Bb).  Further, these heavily tick infested migrating song-birds can start new foci of ticks on islands and remote mainland areas.

Birds are serving as transport systems for ticks and are spreading them all over the world.

The other crucial but overlooked factor climate change researchers have not been considering is something called photoperiod.

Evidently, ticks have sensory organs that monitor the external environment which includes light.  Light wavelength as well as intensity will make the difference from if and when a nymph will molt and if and when an engorged female will lay eggs.

In a nutshell, light (photoperiod) has much more of an impact on ticks than temperature.

Scott’s in-house tick studies have shown that black-legged ticks require 14 hours of daylight to molt.  If ticks can’t molt, they can’t move on to their next life-cycle.  Photoperiod is innate and can not be altered by the climate.  He states:

“The hypothesis that I. scapularis ticks will expand further north in the Prairie Provinces because of climate change is not only unscientific, but deceiving.”

He demonstrates this by noting that I. scapularis ticks are not established in the Neotropics where the temperature is warmer.  The reason for this is the photoperiod is balanced between night and day.  In other words, the ticks have less light than they need to molt.

The study points out that both ticks and spirochetes are ecoadaptive survivors as demonstrated by the fact borrelial spirochetes have survived for thousands of years https://www.utoronto.ca/news/u-t-researchers-find-ancient-iceman-s-infection-helps-lyme-disease-bone-loss-discovery,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/12/the-persistent-spiral-the-ancient-history-of-lyme-disease-and-tick-borne-infections/, and so have infected ticks:  http://www.sci-news.com/paleontology/blood-engorged-tick-dominican-amber-04757.html  (This one infected with a Babesia species).  This survival demonstrates adaptation to any potential climate shifts.

Another problem with the climate change models is they overlook the fact that deer ticks were established in northwestern Ontario, southern Manitoba and were already in central Canada prior to 1970.  What they predict to happen in the future has already happened in Canada.  Their oversight caused a skewed rate of tick expansion and a miscalculation of northward projected movement.

“For blacklegged ticks, climate change is an apocryphal issue.” -John Scott

The study states that another problem is the over-emphasis on white-footed mice:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/21/first-frankenbugs-now-frankinmice/.  Scott has shown that there are established populations of deer ticks in Manitoba as well as in insular, hyper-endemic Corkscrew Island, yet both are devoid of white-footed mice.  He points out that there are numerous reservoir hosts that must be considered including other mammals, birds, and reptiles.

For decades we’ve been told it’s the mice.  Yet a real problem in the West and South are reptiles like skinks and lizards:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/12/03/biologists-at-sf-state-dig-into-ticks-and-ld/,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/25/the-confounding-geography-of-lyme-disease-in-the-u-s/

Another problem with the climate change insistence is study time vs. deer tick establishment.  The progression of studies used by some researchers follows the order in which they were conducted not the result and progression of climate change, and just because U.S. studies start in the early 80’s does not mean that was when ticks were established.  As noted before, ticks and spirochetes have both been found in fossils, obviously long before the 80’s.  This demonstrates climate adaptability.

“The time-lapse model sharply conflicts with the actual areas designated as Lyme disease foci.  Such models contradict field data, and misrepresent the Lyme disease timeline of tick establishment in Canada.”  – John Scott

Also, climate-change researchers overlooked and did not take into account established populations of I. scapularis found in the late 1960’s in the upper Midwest, as well as at Manitoba in 1991, in their climate change model maps.  Even game hunters remember ticks on the heads and necks of deer in the 1950’s and 1960’s in northwestern Ontario and southern Manitoba.  The faulty climate change maps are devoid of any ticks in those areas – yet experience shows otherwise.  This has been the experience of patients across the globe as well.

The study states that migratory song-birds transport black-legged tick larvae and nymphs hundreds of kilometers during northward migratory flights and are important drivers for wide-spread dispersal not only of ticks but of tick-associated pathogens.  

This is shown by the fact that neotropical songbirds are transporting ticks from Brazil into Canada.  Neotropical Amblyomma ticks do not overwinter in Canada yet they are being transported there.  Birds are also transporting Ixodes spp. ticks as well.  Scott claims if there was any substance to climate warming in propagating ticks the Amblyomma americium (lone star tick) would have become established in the southernmost part of Ontario, but they haven’t.

Thankfully others are studying the bird component as well:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/17/of-birds-and-ticks/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/10/02/the-role-of-birds-in-tickborne-illness/,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/07/09/infected-ticks-collected-from-birds-in-northern-italy/,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/08/12/bbsl-infected-ticks-in-canadian-songbirds/,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/06/08/hemorrhagic-fever-virus-found-on-ticks-on-migratory-birds/.

In sum,

  • certain researchers are predicting a spread of LD due to climate change
  • independent tick research John Scott says these are “spurious and unsubstantiated” contentions
  • birds, not weather, are propagating the spread of ticks and disease
  • transmission depends on whether a tick is infected and whether the tick has vector competence
  • during bad weather ticks adapt by finding cover
  • warmer temperatures actually reduce tick populations
  • temperature and precipitation has no bearing on tick abundance
  • climate change alarmists have used Canadian studies making 1970 their benchmark for models but didn’t take into account established tick populations that had already been in existence for decades, centuries, or even millennia at northern latitudes
  • regarding ticks, climate change is insignificant

Scott JD, Scott CM. Lyme Disease Propelled by Borrelia burgdorferi-infected Blacklegged Ticks, Wild Birds, and Public Awareness – Not Climate Change. J Veter Sci Med 6(1):8 (2018)  Scott & Scott, 2018, ticks and climate change, JVSM

For more: https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/11/07/ticks-on-the-move-due-to-migrating-birds-and-photoperiod-not-climate-change/

Recently, Scott wrote a scathing correction on erroneous research done by Ontario public officials on the fake climate change tick connection:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/17/ontario-public-health-officials-called-out-on-shoddy-biased-research-utilizing-an-erroneous-climate-change-model-to-program-a-futuristic-tick-problem/

Please understand the DOD, DARPA, & EPA are funding this very research:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/06/25/lyme-disease-cases-are-exploding-and-its-only-going-to-get-worse/This is an interesting finding considering the following excerpt from the above link:

Although conspiracy theorists have suggested — falsely — that Lyme disease was created in a U.S. military lab, it is true that in the years following World War II, the U.S. employed top German scientists who explored the tick’s potential in biological warfare for Nazi Germany. The researchers were investigating the tick’s ability to spread pathogens across wide areas with the potential to incapacitate entire populations.

Seventy-five years later, the tick timebomb is detonating on its own. Thanks to climate change, globalization, and other factors, ticks are not only proliferating but also becoming more malignant, more aggressive, and more likely to carry infection. A public health crisis is hiding in plain sight,

Can you see why our government would rather fund research on the climate and land usage? They would prefer to keep skeletons inside the closet.

For an interview with Scott:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/14/canadian-tick-expert-climate-change-is-not-behind-lyme-disease/

“The climate change range expansion model is what the authorities have been using to rationalize how they have done nothing for more than thirty years. It’s a huge cover-up scheme that goes back to the 1980’s. The grandiose scheme was a nefarious plot to let doctors off the hook from having to deal with this debilitating disease. I caught onto it very quickly. Most people have been victims of it ever since.  This climate change ‘theory’ is all part of a well-planned scheme. Even the ticks are smarter than the people who’ve concocted this thing.  Climate change has nothing to do with tick movement. Blacklegged ticks are ecoadaptive, and tolerate wide temperature fluctuations…..It’s all a red herring to divert your attention.”- John Scott

And in conclusion, climate change data has not and will not help Lyme/MSIDS patients and/or the doctors who treat them. Time to hunker down and get to work spending money and backing research that relieves human suffering.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Ticks, Transmission