Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Send Ticks on Vacation

05_relapse316x316Graphic courtesy of Lymestats.org

http://www.bayarealyme.org/lyme-disease-prevention/tick-testing/

Send ticks on vacation to Arizona!

Not only will your tick get to visit the copper state they will also be tested to determine what bacteria they are carrying.  You will receive an email detailing the species identified and the list of positive and negative results.

U.S. Ticks will be tested for 6 bacterial infections: Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease; Borrelia miyamotoi, which causes tick-borne relapsing fever; Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis, Ehrlichia chafeensis, which causes human monocytic erhlichiosis, and Rickettsia ricketts, the agent of Rocky-mountain spotted fever, and the protozoan pathogen, Babesia microti. Results will be available within five business days of receipt based on estimated volumes, and the data will be reported to the sender by email, as well as mapped, categorized and recorded.

To participate, put your tick in a small Ziploc baggie with a moist cotton ball or piece of wet paper towel. Fill out this 2-page PDF  http://yjdst3t2ce610lp8n38ginr6.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Bay-Area-Lyme-Tick-Testing-Form.pdf completely, electronically, or print and fill out by hand. Put the baggie and the document in a small padded envelope.

Send your tick along with the signed paperwork via regular US mail to:

Nathan Nieto, Assistant Professor Microbiology
Department of Biological Sciences
617 S. Beaver Street
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011

Make this into a family project!  See how many ticks you can gather and identify.  Click the link below to see if you can determine what species you’ve found. http://www.tickencounter.org/tick_identification/tick_species

http://www.abc.net.au/health/features/stories/2015/02/12/4178721.htm                             How to remove a tick

Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s goal is to provide free, timely information as to whether they have been bitten by – or collected – an infected or uninfected tick.  Sending ticks allows their scientific researchers to gather data about ticks from all over the U.S.  By sending your tick you are participating in a citizen research project and national tick-collection/testing effort which will enable scientists to compare past and potential future distributions of ticks and tick-borne disease.                     

Category:

Babesia, Lyme, research, Ticks, Uncategorized

March Support Meeting

fly-copy

Used with permission from Jackie, a fellow Lyme warrior.https://thelessonsoflyme.wordpress.com

Next Support Meeting:  Saturday, March 19 from 2:30-4:45

Hope to see you there!

Category:

Meetings, Uncategorized

A Blast From the Past

11_cases316x316Permission from lymestats.org

Turn the Corner Foundation: The Fight Against Lyme Disease

This short 6 minute video was uploaded in 2008 and includes excerpts from “Under Our Skin,” the best primer on Lyme Disease out there.  It’s important to see our past to understand our present.  We have far to go, but many courageous and gifted people have done so much for the Lyme community.  My favorite part is when Dr. Corson, obviously infused with life changing direction from Dr. Burrascano, announced,

“I feel like I need to educate an army.  I need to train an army because that’s what it’s gonna take to treat all of the patients that need to be cared for.”   

Eight years have come and gone with Dr. Corson’s prophetic words.  The good news is slowly more doctors are becoming trained by *ILADS to effectively treat MSIDS (multi systemic infectious disease syndrome), but she’s right, so many more are needed.

http://www.ilads.org

*International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society

ILADS is a nonprofit, international, multi-disciplinary medical society, dedicated to the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Lyme and its associated diseases. ILADS promotes understanding of Lyme through research and education and strongly supports physicians and other health care professionals dedicated to advancing the standard of care for Lyme and its associated diseases.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Uncategorized

Mice are Immune

82_mice316x316Permission by Lymestats.org

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/03/22/exclusive-report-ticks-dont-harm-mice-study-finds/6761845/

I have to kinda admit – I think mice are cute.  Perhaps it’s because my brother always had some, running in their little treadmills.  It’s always been a curiosity of mine to know if they are affected as we are with MSIDS (multi systemic infectious disease syndrome or Lyme with friends).

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies discovered just last year that ticks do not affect the health or lifespan of mice, and what’s more, male mice seemed to have better health the more ticks they had!

“The study examined mice during the warm-weather months and tracked winter survival rates. In both cases, the number of ticks on a mouse appeared to have no impact.  Over 16 years, they had captured more than 5,500 mice, tagged them so they could be tracked, and counted the ticks on them.

‘We couldn’t detect an effect, which is really surprising,’ said Michelle Hersh, the study’s lead author, a former researcher at Cary and now a biology professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers.

When paired with other research that has shown mice don’t fight off diseases effectively and don’t remove ticks from their bodies, the study underscores the threat the small mammals play as wellsprings for Lyme disease, malaria-like maladies such as babesiosis and anaplasmosis, and the incurable and often deadly Powassan encephalitis.
Mice were trapped every three or four weeks, starting at the peak period of larval tick activity in late July and early August, until the end of the breeding season in November.  Each time a mouse was trapped, it was either marked with an ear tag — if it had no tag — or its tag number was recorded.

The number of larval ticks varied widely, with some mice having more than 200. On average, the mice carried about 23 ticks.“

So, now you know.

Category:

Lyme, research, Ticks, Uncategorized

IDSA Guidelines removed from NGC

 

108_bethbell316x316 All graphics used with permission from Alison of http://lymestats.org/.

https://www.lymedisease.org/idsa-guidelines-removed-ngc/

The National Guidelines Clearinghouse–a federal database that provides treatment information to health care professionals and insurance companies–has removed the IDSA Lyme disease treatment guidelines from its website recently. This means that the only Lyme disease guidelines listed on the NGC are those of ILADS, which were posted in 2014.

Last year the NGC revised its criteria for listing guidelines to conform to some of the standards adopted by the Institute of Medicine in 2011 for creating trustworthy guidelines. These standards included using a rigorous evidence review system. The ILADS guidelines, which were authored by Lorraine Johnson (LymeDisease.org), Dan Cameron (ILADS), and Betty Maloney, conformed to the high evidentiary standards of the IOM.

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Because the IDSA guidelines did not comply with the more stringent requirements, they were removed from the NGC.

The IDSA guidelines are currently undergoing revision. LymeDisease.org and the Lyme Disease Association led an effort to gather comments from close to 90 groups protesting the process—which among other things—did not include a Lyme patient as required by the Institute of Medicine.

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LymeDisease.org launched a patient survey called for comments on the IDSA guidelines on March 27 and filed comments from over 6,100 patients in less than a month. After the protest regarding the failure to include a Lyme patient on the panel, in response to pressure by U.S. congressmen, the IDSA suggested that it might reconsider putting a Lyme patient on the panel. We do not know the revision schedule for the IDSA guidelines.

Kudos to the good people working hard for us.  I’d like to think of this as a boycott of the horrifically outdated IDSA guidelines for tick borne illnesses.  Keep your chins up, folks, it’s getting good.

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Category:

Activism, Educational handouts, Uncategorized