Archive for the ‘Transmission’ Category

Winter Ticks Threaten Moose

https://oodmag.com/winter-ticks-threaten-moose/

Winter ticks threaten moose

by Matthew Robbins | January 22, 2024

Across this province and beyond, ticks are an increasingly troublesome reality for sportsmen and women. These little bloodsuckers are more than just annoying — they carry a host of ailments to which outdoor enthusiasts are especially vulnerable. Along much of their southernmost range, moose are struggling to adapt to the growing influence of ticks, and Ontario is no exception.

Tick troubles

By and large, human-tick encounters involve one of two species: the dog tick (aka wood tick) or the black-legged tick (aka deer tick), the latter of which is responsible for a rising incidence of Lyme disease in humans. Despite their increasing prevalence, however, neither of these species appear to be an issue for moose.

Instead, the trouble for our iconic forest-giant comes almost exclusively from Dermacentor albipictus, otherwise known as the winter tick. These pesky parasites are slightly larger than other species of North American ticks and are considered unique for their use of a single host-animal. While most species of tick switch hosts during their various life stages, winter ticks catch a ride on an unsuspecting ungulate as larvae and remain there until the swollen females are ready to drop to the forest floor, lay their eggs, and die.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Obviously, such a long feeding by upwards of 40,000 ticks on a singular moose will cause severe blood loss, emaciation, and anemia.  

These poor, plagued moose will rub on trees rubbing their hair off leaving them grey earning them the title “ghost moose.”

The article then predictably pushes the ‘climate change’ propaganda, blaming warmer winters for tick explosions, when independent research has shown this notion to be false.  Nobody seems to ever mention our government’s involvement of experimenting and dropping ticks from airplanes.

More specifically, in this link is a 1967 U.S. Army report, on page 600 that shows that ticks were experimentally infected with various pathogens.  For instance, on page 301 Boophilus australis was experimentally infected with murine typhus rickettsia.  Dermacentor albopiotus (the exact winter tick affecting moose) with spotted fever, Dermacentor andersoni with typhus rickettsiae, and so on and so forth.  The link to the army report is conveniently broken (censored) as it incriminates our own government and military.

It’s just easier to blame the climate boogey-man.

Sadly, 90% of moose calves will die due to this blood-letting.

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks, Transmission

The Truth About Lyme Disease With Psychotherapist Lori Dennis

https://rumble.com/v459qcz-the-truth-about-lyme-disease-with-lori-dennis.html Podcast Here (Approx. 47 Min)

The Truth About Lyme Disease With Lori Dennis

1/5/24

Lyme disease remains to be, in many ways, a daunting mystery to scientists and doctors across the globe. But rather than shying away from the puzzling aspects to this illness, Lori Dennis has made it her mission to dig into the research and advocate for those affected. In doing so, she has uncovered shocking revelations about the transmission, symptomatology, diagnosis, treatment and prolonged impacts of Lyme. Lori presents a few of her discoveries on ‘Doctors & Scientists’ this week.

Lori Dennis, MA, a registered Psychotherapist in private practice in Toronto, Canada, is the author of Lyme Madness: Rescuing My Son Down the Rabbit Hole of Chronic Lyme Disease.

On this expedition, just like all Lyme sufferers and caregivers, we were forced to become our own microbiologist, neurologist, immunologist, gastroenterologist, infectious disease specialist and so on, in order to map out a treatment plan, all without a GPS.

Our story is by no means unique. Most chronic Lyme sufferers are ill for months, years or even decades before they come to understand the root cause of their dis-ease. Most sufferers consult with a multitude of doctors only to have to figure it out for themselves. ~ Lori Dennis

For more:

Articles by Lori Dennis:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Transmission, Treatment

Under Our Skin 1 & 2 Lyme/MSIDS Documentary: Another Bioweapon?

A very real U.S. Government laboratory shrouded in secrecy that existed at Plum Island (which has been moved to Kansas state University) was inspired by a Nazi bioweapons expert, and housed Fort Terry a biological warfare defense research facility. The lab had a mission to poison cattle in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was also connected to an African Swine Fever outbreak in Cuba. It should come as no surprise that strange genetically mutated creatures have washed up on the shores of the mainland.

Tick experimentation by the government has been going on since at least the 60’s due to their ability to spread disease, with certain pathogens never showing up on testing. The “discoverer” of Lyme disease – Willy Burgdorfer, just happened to work at the NIH state of the art BSL- 4 biomedical research facility called the Rocky Mountain Lab (RML) in Montana force-feeding ticks various pathogens.  There is also a record of dropping infected ticks from airplanes to study their distribution patterns.

It doesn’t take a rock-scientist to realize the implications of these actions.
But despite efforts the government says, “Nothing to see here!”

https://rumble.com/v43vmkx-under-our-skin-part-1-and-2-both-lyme-disease-movies-in-one-video-is-lyme-d.html

Under Our Skin 1 & 2:  Is Lyme Disease A Bioweapon?

Under Our Skin: Part 1 (2009)

https://amzn.to/48znBOJ

In the early 1970’s, a mysterious ailment was discovered among children living around the town of Lyme, CT. What was first diagnosed as isolated cases of juvenile arthritis, eventually became known as Lyme disease, an illness triggered by spiral-shaped bacteria, similar to the microorganisms that cause syphilis. Today, many of those untreated will suffer chronic debilitating illness. Some unknowingly will pass the disease onto their unborn children. Many will lose their livelihoods, and still others, their lives.

Yet Lyme disease is one of the most misunderstood and controversial illnesses of our time. Difficult to test accurately, tens of thousands of people go undiagnosed — or misdiagnosed with such conditions as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, autism, MS and ALS. The Centers for Disease Control estimates more than 300,000 people acquire Lyme disease each year, a number greater than breast cancers and AIDS combined. And yet, the medical establishment — with profound influence from the insurance industry — has stated that the disease is easily detectable and treatable, and that “chronic Lyme” is some other unrecognized syndrome or a completely psychosomatic disorder.

UNDER OUR SKIN is a powerful and often terrifying look not only at the science and politics of the disease, but also the personal stories of those whose lives have been affected and nearly destroyed. From a few brave doctors who risk their medical licenses, to patients who once led active lives but now can barely walk, the film uncovers a hidden world that will astound viewers. While exposing a broken health care and medical research system, the film also gives voice to those who believe that instead of a crisis, Lyme is simply a “disease du jour,” over diagnosed and contributing to another crisis: the looming resistance of microbes and ineffectuality of antibiotics. As suspenseful and hair-raising as any Hollywood thriller, UNDER OUR SKIN is sure to get under yours.

……..

Under Our Skin: Part 2 (Emergence) (2014)

https://amzn.to/48znBOJ

In this dramatic follow-up to the widely acclaimed UNDER OUR SKIN, EMERGENCE takes the viewer on a journey from horror to hope. We witness the emerging epidemic of Lyme disease as infection and education spread globally. We watch as the truth emerges about the disease’s persistence and reach, about promising new research, and about medical collusion and conflicts of interest that continue to impede progress. We revisit the characters from UNDER OUR SKIN as they emerge into better health, reclaiming their lives and dignity, and offering hope to the legions now suffering. As Lyme disease surges, EMERGENCE shines a probing light on the issue and becomes a beacon in the dark.

Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons (Book)

By Kris Newby

https://amzn.to/3NKAUUq

Amazon Description:

A riveting thriller reminiscent of The Hot Zone, this true story dives into the mystery surrounding one of the most controversial and misdiagnosed conditions of our time — Lyme disease — and of Willy Burgdorfer, the man who discovered the microbe behind it, revealing his secret role in developing bug-borne biological weapons, and raising terrifying questions about the genesis of the epidemic of tick-borne diseases affecting millions of Americans today.

While on vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, Kris Newby was bitten by an unseen tick. That one bite changed her life forever, pulling her into the abyss of a devastating illness that took ten doctors to diagnose and years to recover: Newby had become one of the 300,000 Americans who are afflicted with Lyme disease each year.

As a science writer, she was driven to understand why this disease is so misunderstood, and its patients so mistreated. This quest led her to Willy Burgdorfer, the Lyme microbe’s discoverer, who revealed that he had developed bug-borne bioweapons during the Cold War, and believed that the Lyme epidemic was started by a military experiment gone wrong.

In a superb, meticulous work of narrative journalism, Bitten takes readers on a journey to investigate these claims, from biological weapons facilities to interviews with biosecurity experts and microbiologists doing cutting-edge research, all the while uncovering darker truths about Willy. It also leads her to uncomfortable questions about why Lyme can be so difficult to both diagnose and treat, and why the government is so reluctant to classify chronic Lyme as a disease.

A gripping, infectious page-turner, Bitten will shed a terrifying new light on an epidemic that is exacting an incalculable toll on us, upending much of what we believe we know about it.

…….

December 27, 2023

Jay Bhattacharya @DrJBhattacharya writes:

I just finished @krisnewby’s Bitten, which tells the history of the US government’s secret program in the 1950s and 1960s to weaponize ticks to deliver deadly bacteria to incapacitate unsuspecting populations.

Newby, a talented journalist and science writer, structures her history around a biography of Willy Burgdorfer, the Swiss-American scientist who discovered borellia burgdorferi, a spirochete bacteria often found in Lyme disease patients.

It’s an incredible, infuriating, well-written book worth your time.

A few lessons:

1. The mid-20th century US biomedical research establishment was psychopathic, whole-heartedly embracing reckless, deadly investigations in the name of developing vaccines and bioweapons.

2. It is possible (& perhaps likely, though not proven) that the emergence and spread of Lyme disease may have been caused by this research program, which included large open-air testing of intentionally infected ticks on US soil.

3. The bioweapons program used combinations of viruses and bacteria infecting the same tick to hide the body’s immune response to infection from detection by standard medical tests.

4. Lyme disease and related syndromes are likely caused by more than just borellia burgorferi. Newby makes a circumstantial case for a shadowy rickettsia bacteria that Willy Burgdorfer studied, which he called the “Swiss agent.”

5. The financial interests of biomedical researchers and testing companies peddling faulty tests — alongside their control over the official pronouncements and policy of the National Institute of Health and the US Infectious Disease Society of America — have frozen in place a diagnostic doctrine that has led to countless Lyme disease patients misdiagnosed and gaslit about the symptoms they are suffering.

Closing thought: similar tendencies in the biomedical research and medical establishments are still extant and may help explain many things about the covid pandemic. History does not repeat, but it rhymes.

Source:  https://twitter.com/DrJBhattacharya/status/1740029782967148624

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**Comment**

Please read these articles to get a bird’s-eye view of the topic:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission, Treatment, vaccines

Why Lyme Spirochetes Are Like Stealth Bombers

https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-stealth-bombers/

Why Lyme spirochetes are like stealth bombers

By Lonnie Marcum
12/7/23

Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, can persist in animals and humans because it has evolved complex mechanisms to avoid the immune system.

In a 1996 interview with The Scientist magazine, Stephen Barthold, DVM, PhD, the researcher who developed the first mouse model of Lyme disease, described Borrelia burgdorferi’s ability to avoid immune detection as a form of cloaking. “It’s using some sort of stealth-bomber-type mechanism,” he said.

Since then, Professor Barthold has gone on to partner with many researchers in the pursuit of learning how B. burgdorferi causes chronic infection, including Monica Embers, PhD, from Tulane University.

Nicole Baumgarth, DVM, PhD, now the director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme and Tickborne Diseases Research and Education Institute, has years of experience collaborating with Barthold.

The latest research by Baumgarth, Barthold and others at University of California, Davis offers the science community one more clue as to how Borrelia is able to subvert the immune system leading to persistent infection in mice.

Their paper entitled, “Borrelia burgdorferi Infection–Induced Persistent IgM Secretion Controls Bacteremia, but Not Bacterial Dissemination or Tissue Burden,” has shed new light on how these pathogens persist in tissues, but present in very low numbers in the blood.

As Dr. Baumgarth tells me, “Blood is not the way Borrelia gets around the mice. Rather it migrates through tissues.”

These new findings may offer a possible explanation as to why disseminated Borrelia is both harder to treat, and so difficult to detect in blood samples.

Immune system basics

The immune system is roughly divided into two: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system.

The innate immune system is our body’s first line of defense against pathogens and harmful substances. When working properly, it reacts immediately, but non-specifically, to all foreign invaders.

In contrast, the adaptive immune system is more targeted. It relies on prior exposure to learn and generate protective antibodies. The adaptive immune system remembers previous encounters and develops specific weapons (B-cells and T-cells) to fight each pathogen.

IgM vs IgG Antibodies

When the immune system detects any foreign substance, it produces antibodies which trigger the innate and later the adaptive immune system. IgM (immunoglobulin M) and IgG (immunoglobulin G) are two types of antibodies produced by the immune system.

IgM, the larger of these two immunoglobulins, is an early type of antibody to emerge in the development of an immune response. It acts as the initial defense against infections and is a strong activator of the complement system immune response that helps to clear pathogens.

The complement system consists of multiple proteins (C1 to C9) that summon phagocytes to the site of infection. Phagocytes (macrophages, neutrophils, lymphocytes) are components of the innate immune system that destroy pathogens. [For a crash course on the complement system watch this video.]

IgM is very effective in the blood stream. However, the size of IgM antibodies impedes their ability to penetrate all the tissues of the body. This limits IgM’s ability to send phagocytes into deeper tissues (eg. joints, heart, brain) where infection may be hiding.

IgG, a smaller, more penetrable antibody, is produced later in the immune response. IgG levels typically increase over a longer period of time, in some cases promoting the immune system to develop long-term immunity to future infection.

Study shows Borrelia impairs immune response

This new study shows how persistent Borrelia burgdorferi triggers a prolonged initial (IgM) immune response, and can impair a secondary (IgG) immune response.

This initial (IgM) response leads to fewer Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) in the blood stream while the infection continues to spread throughout the body.

In addition, Borrelia’s prolonged IgM response in both humans and animals leads to a reduction in antibody-mediated clearance of the infection from deeper tissues.

The authors state, “Together the data demonstrated that IgG, but not IgM, is critical for the long-term control of B. burgdorferi tissue burden or disease induction. Despite that, Borrelia tissue dissemination in mice appeared very little affected by the rate of bacteremia, suggesting the B. burgdorferi main mode of dissemination in mice occurs by means other than via the blood.”

How IgM causes false-negatives

This research has shown that the standard definition of IgM as an acute response versus IgG as chronic response may be problematic in the classification of Lyme disease.

The Lyme disease Western Blot detects IgM and IgG responses to specific proteins found on Borrelia burgdorferi—for example: OspC (band 23-25), OspA (band 31), OspB (ban 34), BmpA protein (band 39), and flagellin protein (band 63-93).

In people with healthy immune systems, the Lyme disease IgM is normally detectable within a couple of weeks after infection, typically peaking around 4-6 weeks, then slowly declining over the next several months. The IgG begins around 4-6 weeks, peaking around 4-6 months, then slowly declining over the next several years.

Unfortunately, people who are immune-compromised, and/or fighting more than one infection (co-infection), may never develop a robust IgG response. The lack of the IgG response also prevents the immune system from finding and clearing bacteria embedded within deeper tissues, further impairing the healing process.

 In the experimental Bb mouse model, despite extensive antibiotic treatment, IgM production continued for months. This is consistent with human Lyme disease studies demonstrating continued IgM response as long as 10 years, even in patients treated with antibiotics.

As the authors state, this is “a remarkable observation, given the short half-life of IgM, considered to be <24 hours.” Meaning a prolonged IgM is likely coming from the immune system reacting to persistent Borrelia.

The continued production of IgM in the blood stream may explain why Borrelia is so difficult to detect in blood samples.

And because the CDC discredits the presence of IgM after four weeks, the prolonged IgM is likely contributing to the high rate of false-negative standard tests for Lyme disease.

Per the CDC website, “the IgM Western Blot test result is only meaningful during the first four weeks of illness. If you have been infected for longer than 4 to 6 weeks and the IgG Western Blot is still negative, it is highly likely that the IgM result is incorrect (e.g., a false positive). This does not mean that you are not ill, but it does suggest that the cause of illness is something other than the Lyme disease bacterium.”

We now have evidence that this is simply not true in all cases.

Difficult to Detect

In 2019, I attended a vector-borne disease conference at University of California, San Francisco. While there, *Dr. Charles Chiu explained how his powerful direct detection DNA sequencing system—able to detect thousands of pathogens—was just not finding enough Borrelia burgdorferi in the blood stream of humans to work effectively. (See my live tweets of Chiu’s presentation here.)

I was just baffled how such a powerful tool could not consistently detect Lyme disease in humans. Now, knowing that IgM remains in the blood stream longer, keeping the bacteria numbers low, may help us understand this phenomenon.

The fact that the prolonged IgM reduces the presence of Bb in the blood stream helps to explain why next-generation serologic tests using direct detection of DNA or proteins may not be able to detect Bb in patients who are suffering from chronic Lyme disease.

[*Since then Dr. Chiu has gone on partner with Johns Hopkins University where they have developed a next-generation gene sequencing technique, called RNA-seq, to map the immune response to infection. And most recently Chiu has partnered with Columbia University to open the first West Coast Center for the Clinical Trials Network.]

Immune Disruption

Also covered in Baumgarth’s paper is another strategy Bb has developed to evade the immune system. Within 24 hours after the tick bite, Bb quickly invades and is detectible in the lymph nodes nearest the site of infection.

On the surface, this seems counterintuitive, as the lymph nodes contain many life-saving immune cells.

However, once Bb is in the lymph nodes, the spirochetes induce a signal that disrupts the “germinal centers” within the lymph node architecture. Ultimately, this alters the adaptive immune response of the lymphatics and impairs the immune system by limiting memory B and T cell production.

In addition, new research from Johns Hopkins has shown that Bb impairs dendritic cells. Dendritic cells are a type of immune cell spread throughout the body. Once activated, dendritic cells migrate to the lymph nodes, where they activate the adaptive immune response. Bb’s alteration of the dendritic cells also impairs the formation of memory B and T cells.

When the immune system functions properly, IgM is produced and triggers an immune response that is good at controlling bacteremia in the blood stream. From there, an IgG response is required to control dissemination outside the blood stream.

IgM and IgG also help to trigger macrophages, a type of white blood cell that envelops and destroys pathogens. The lack of this secondary IgG response prevents macrophages from getting the message to enter and clear Bb infection from deeper tissues—which contributes to persistent infection outside the bloodstream.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the authors “propose that the continued production of immune IgM is a manifestation of B. burgdorferi mediated B cell response subversion and represents an immune evasion strategy of B. burgdorferi. It may promote B. burgdorferi dissemination out of the blood and into the skin, where it can remain until attachment and bite of a tick will induce it to migrate toward the site of the tick bite.”

I was always told Bb likes to leave the blood stream and hide in zones of the body where it is protected from the immune system. This new study shows how Bb actually uses our own immune system to aide in its ability to hide. This strategy allows Bb to survive and attain its ultimate goal— which is not to kill the host, but to get picked up by another tick and spread to another host.

Over 40 years since the discovery of the spirochete responsible for Lyme disease, we are inching closer to understanding how Borrelia burgdorferi suppresses and evades the immune system.

LymeSci is written by Lonnie Marcum, a physical therapist and mother of a daughter with Lyme. She served two terms on a subcommittee of the federal Tick-Borne Disease Working Group. Follow her on Twitter: @LonnieRhea  Email her at: lmarcum@lymedisease.org.

Reference

Hastey CJ, Olsen KJ, Elsner RA, Mundigl S, Tran GVV, Barthold SW, Baumgarth N. Borrelia burgdorferi Infection-Induced Persistent IgM Secretion Controls Bacteremia, but Not Bacterial Dissemination or Tissue Burden. J Immunol. 2023 Nov 15;211(10):1540-1549. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2300384. PMID: 37782044.

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For more:

Category:

Lyme, research, Testing, Transmission

Review: Borrelia Miyamotoi

https://danielcameronmd.com/review-borrelia-miyamotoi/

REVIEW: BORRELIA MIYAMOTOI

borrelia-miyamotoi

Borrelia miyamotoi is an emerging tick-borne illness that is transmitted by the deer tick. The most common symptoms of a B. miyamotoi infection include fever, fatigue, headache, chills, myalgia, arthralgia, and nausea.

By 

In their article, “Human Borrelia miyamotoi Infection in North America,” Burde and colleagues discuss the frequency and location of infection in ticks and people, clinical presentation and complications, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

Prevalence of B. miyamotoi

B. miyamotoi-infected ticks have been reported throughout the northeastern, northern Midwestern, and western United States. They’ve also been detected in all Canadian provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador.

The prevalence of Borrelia miyamotoi infections is difficult to determine, since the illness is not nationally reportable in the U.S. but reportable in only a few states including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin. And, confirmation of the diagnosis depends upon laboratory testing, which is not always available.

Furthermore, diagnosis can be challenging. “The discrepancy between diagnosed and undiagnosed infection is probably even greater for B. miyamotoi, a tick-borne disease that lacks an easily identifiable clinical marker, such as the erythema migrans rash, and is less well known by health care workers and the general public,” the authors write.

Transmission

B. miyamotoi can be transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected black-legged (deer) tick. Several studies have found that it may be transmitted through blood transfusions, as well.

The B. miyamotoi pathogen can be transmitted from an infected female tick to her eggs, which may result in some larval ticks harboring the infection and transmitting it to a host. “Other larvae become infected after taking a blood meal on an infected mouse reservoir host, molt to the nymphal stage, and then transmit infection to another mouse or human,” they write.

Symptoms & Treatment

B. miyamotoi symptoms can be non-specific and an individual may appear to have a viral-like illness with fever, chills, headache, myalgia, fatigue, arthralgia, and gastrointestinal complaints, according to the authors.

“The most striking clinical feature of B. miyamotoi is relapsing fever with an initial febrile episode followed by a period of wellness and then one or more additional febrile episodes,” the authors write.

Some studies have found that the “average time between relapses was 9 days with a range of 2 days to 2 weeks.”

However, not all individuals develop relapsing fever. “In the largest case series of B. miyamotoi cases in the US, only 2 of 51 cases (4%) developed relapsing fever.”

READ: Don’t Rely on Relapsing Fever to Diagnose B. miyamotoi 

Treatment of B. miyamotoi disease typically involves using the same antibiotics to treat Lyme disease: doxycycline, tetracycline, erythromycin, penicillin, and ceftriaxone. However, there have been no trials to evaluate the effectiveness of these treatments.

Co-infections worsen disease

Co-infections can worsen the illness. There have been reported cases of B. miyamotoi co-infection with B. burgdorferi and/or Babesia microti.

“Previous studies have found that coinfection of B. burgdorferi with either Babesia microti or with Anaplasma phagocytophilum are often associated with more severe disease compared with that caused by B. burgdorferi infection alone,” the authors write.

Testing for the infection can include blood smear, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and/or antibody detection.

Authors’ Conclude:

“The possibility of B. miyamotoi infection should be considered in any patient with a febrile illness who resides in or has recently traveled to a region where Lyme disease is endemic, especially during the late spring, summer, or early fall.”

Related Articles:

B. miyamotoi can be transmitted from mother ticks to offspring

Could B. miyamotoi infections explain persistent Lyme disease symptoms?

References:
  1. Burde J, Bloch EM, Kelly JR, Krause PJ. Human Borrelia miyamotoi Infection in North America. Pathogens. 2023 Apr 3;12(4):553. doi: 10.3390/pathogens12040553. PMID: 37111439; PMCID: PMC10145171.

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For more:

Since Borrelia miyamotoi is not a reportable illness to the CDC, no one has any clue about prevalence but reports are coming in continually that it’s highly likely to be a much bigger problem than ‘authorities’ believe.
It was recently discovered that:

Also, Borrelia miyamotoi has been in California ticks for a long time:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/02/15/b-miyamotoi-in-ca-ticks-for-a-long-time/

The following case shows how you can become infected while traveling:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2020/10/24/a-case-of-borrelia-miyamotoi/

Category:

Activism, Borrelia Miyamotoi (Relapsing Fever Group), research, Testing, Ticks, Transmission, Treatment, Uncategorized