Archive for the ‘Viruses’ Category

No Lyme in Oklahoma – Yeah Right

https://globallymealliance.org/bursting-woods-new-england-bubble/

by Jennifer Crystal

JENNIFER CRYSTAL ADDRESSES THE COMMON MYTH THAT LYME DISEASE ONLY EXISTS IN NEW ENGLAND.

Last summer, a friend who lives in Oklahoma found a classic bullseye rash on her seven-year-old daughter.

“That’s a spider bite,” a local pediatrician told her. “We don’t have Lyme in Oklahoma.”

The doctor was wrong. Had my friend taken his advice, her daughter would not have been diagnosed in a timely fashion and she would likely have developed symptoms over the next few months or years. She probably would have become severely debilitated, and the infections might have crossed the blood-brain barrier and become chronic.

In other words, the little girl could have wound up like me. For as it turns out, she did not have a spider bite. She had Lyme disease and two co-infections, Babesia and Bartonella.

Now she’s a healthy, happy second grader because a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) was brought in who accurately saw the bullseye rash for what it was. Another pediatrician ordered special tests, and started the child on proper medication for all three infections. Because they were caught early, those infections have now cleared up.

This little girl was lucky, but that’s because her mother was informed about Lyme and knew to persist beyond the “spider bite” diagnosis. But what about all those children whose parents and pediatricians aren’t Lyme literate? Especially those who live outside the so-called endemic areas?

I don’t believe the Oklahoma pediatrician meant harm with his inaccurate diagnosis. His lack of awareness stemmed from a common myth that Lyme only exists in New England, and specifically in the woods. I’ve had people in Massachusetts say to me,

“Oh Lyme—that’s the thing you get when you’re hiking, right?”

Yes and no. Ticks live not only in the woods but also in long grasses, gardens, woodpiles, leaf litter and on lawns. They love any moist, shady area. They feed not just on deer—another common myth—but also on mice, chipmunks, shrews, birds, and other small mammals. Therefore, they travel a lot. People travel, too. Someone from South Carolina might take a vacation in Maine, get bitten by a tick, and later be told by their doctor, “It can’t be Lyme. We don’t have it in the South.” In fact, cases of Lyme disease have been documented across the United States, and throughout the world.

New research published in the Journal of Medical Entomology shows that infected ticks are now in half the counties across the country, a number that has almost doubled since a similar survey was done in 1998. The study notes that over the past two decades, the black-legged tick

“has expanded from its northeastern focus northward into upstate New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and northern Maine; westward across Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and New York; and south—and southwestward into West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.” The study also notes a similar geographic expansion in the North-Central states. “The two previously distinct foci in the Northeast and North-Central states appear to be merging in the Ohio River Valley to form a single contiguous focus.”[1]

Ticks are spreading across the country, bringing not just Lyme but co-infections. These require different treatment and can complicate recovery.

Had my friend’s daughter only been treated for Lyme and not for Babesia and Bartonella, she would still be sick.

Some of these co-infections are specific to states that are nowhere near New England. Bourbon virus, a rare but potentially deadly illness, has been reported in Kansas and Oklahoma. The Heartland virus, spread through the bite of an infected Lone Star tick, has been found in Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Also transmitted by the Lone Star tick is Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI), while dog ticks and Rocky Mountain wood ticks carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Tick borne illnesses are rampant not just in New England, not just deep in the woods, but all across the country and world. As the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society states on its website,

“ticks know no borders and respect no boundaries.”[2]

No matter where you live, if you have symptoms of Lyme and/or co-infections, it’s critical to see an LLMD. If you still have the tick, you can also get that tested. Follow the smart lead of my friend in Oklahoma, so you don’t wind up like me.

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own.

Jennifer Crystal is a writer and educator in Boston. She is working on a memoir about her journey with chronic tick-borne illness. Contact her at jennifercrystalwriter@gmail.com

[1] Rebecca J. Eisen, Lars Eisen, Charles B. Beard; County-Scale Distribution of Ixodes scapularisand Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae) in the Continental United States , Journal of Medical Entomology, Volume 53, Issue 2, 1 March 2016, Pages 349–386, https://doi.org/10.1093/jme/tjv237

[2] http://www.ilads.org/lyme/about-lyme.php

_____________

**Comment**

Lyme/MSIDS is everywhere.  Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.  The entomology maps of tick locations have been used for decades keeping patients undiagnosed and untreated.  For a great article on how the Spielman maps have been an iron curtain keeping patients from getting tested:  https://doczz.net/doc/4593057/the-confounding-debate-over-lyme-disease-in-the-south (scroll to page 6 & 7 for details)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/09/24/arkansas-kids-denied-lyme-treatment/ (Southern patients are STILL told there is no Lyme in the South.)

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/12/the-cdc-needs-a-good-dictionary/  This article is a perfect example of why all things related to Lyme/MSIDS has hardly budged in over 40 years.

As to testing, the current CDC two-tiered testing misses over half of all cases.  The “special” tests Ms. Crystal mentions are more sensitive but are not supported by main stream medicine for reasons I won’t delve into here (essentially governmental collusion, patents, power and money – read article about the CDC needing a good dictionary above).  

Great testing info here: https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-basics/lyme-disease/diagnosis/ and here,  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/12/07/igenex-presentation/

Lyme literate doctors (LLMD’s) use the more sensitive testing but also diagnose patients clinically as some NEVER test positive.  This is important to know.  Here is a common checklist you can print out and complete on your own.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/symptomlist.pdf              If you have a preponderance of symptoms – think TBI’s (tick borne illness); however, there is a caveat – some people present differently and don’t fit the classic mold.  For instance, for some, the only significant symptom is psychiatric:  

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/24/the-lyme-wars-faces-of-the-health-crisis-a-digital-documentary/Kyra, didn’t have the normally thought of symptoms – just horrible anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Her doctor knows Lyme is the great imitator and suspected it despite a negative test. She tested positive for Ehrlichia, which implies contact with a tick. Due to the Lyme/MSIDS diagnosis Kyra went from blaming herself to understanding she now had something she could fight. After doxycycline they chose IV Rocephin – and Kyra became herself again. “The feeling of actually starting to recognize pieces of what I was before was such an amazing feeling.”

And don’t ever forget the probable involvement of coinfections which will significant complicate everything:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/05/01/co-infection-of-ticks-the-rule-rather-than-the-exception/

Category:

Activism, Babesia, Lyme, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Testing, Ticks, Viruses

Misdiagnosed: How Children With Treatable Medical Issues Are Mistakenly Labeled as Mentally Ill

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/misdiagnosed-how-children-with-treatable-medical-issues_us_59d6b302e4b0705dc79aa68f by A. Elizabeth Washington, Writer, Advocate, Mother

Misdiagnosed: How Children With Treatable Medical Issues Are Mistakenly Labeled as Mentally Ill

10/05/2017 

In the fall of 2015, eleven-year-old Sophia Cahill* began blinking her eyes. Though an eye doctor dismissed the blinking as a symptom of dry eyes, her parents would look back later and realize the blinking was a tic. Sophia was otherwise healthy and unbothered by the blinking so life carried on as usual. The simple tic would unfortunately foreshadow much darker days to come.

As Sophia entered seventh grade the following year, she enjoyed spending time with friends and family, performed well academically, and excelled in several sports. She played softball and skied black-diamond slopes with ease. With a love of horseback riding, she had spent two weeks the prior summer at an overnight riding camp. Independent and responsible, she had flown alone across the country to see her cousins and was a trustworthy babysitter for her siblings. Sophia was happy and healthy, with a precocious sense of humor and an easygoing demeanor. Sophia’s parents, both medical doctors, had no concerns about her behavior or health that could have predicted that her life would soon be dramatically and abruptly turned upside down.

Shortly after the school year started, Sophia became sick with a virus and then pneumonia. The illnesses would have been easily forgotten were it not for the troubling episodes that began the following month. Out of the blue and generally in the evenings, Sophia would become extremely distressed and inconsolable, crying for hours at a time. In a state of extreme anguish, she’d rip up boxes of Kleenex, pound her fists on the bed, and repeat bizarre and senseless phrases. Her pupils would dilate and with sheer terror in her eyes and panic on her face, she would scream “Mommy! Mommy, help me!” but no amount of consoling could ease her suffering. Eventually, her hysterical sobbing was punctuated with the disturbing sight and sound of the usually calm twelve-year-old banging her head against the wall. By the wee hours of the morning, she would collapse from utter exhaustion and fall sleep.

The morning after each episode, Sophia would awake in good spirits showing no signs of the turmoil that had transpired the night before. A few nights would pass before another episode would occur. Gradually the episodes became more frequent and began lasting longer. Within three months, she had racked up a number of mental health diagnoses from several different doctors and had started an SSRI, yet her mental health continued to deteriorate.

Shortly after the New Year, the distressing symptoms that Sophia had exhibited only intermittently in the prior months turned into an around-the-clock nightmare for her and her family. With the addition of peculiar involuntary movements and constant moaning that would later be recognized as a vocal tic, Sophia was admitted into the hospital.

While hospitalized, her mother received a call from the pediatrician. The strep titers that she had asked the pediatrician to order were positive. This indicated that Sophia had likely had a fairly recent strep infection. Coupled with her dramatic neuropsychiatric deterioration, the pediatrician believed her mother’s suggestion that Sophia might have pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections, commonly referred to as PANDAS, was likely accurate. She asked that Sophia’s mother discuss the possibility with the doctors at the hospital. Because Sophia also had a virus and pneumonia in the month before her symptoms began, pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, or PANS, was also a consideration. PANDAS, a subset of PANS, requires documentation of previous strep infection. Diagnosis of PANS does not require identification of a specific trigger.

Sophia’s parents shared the labs and their suspicions with the hospital, but the attending physicians were adamant that Sophia did not have PANS. Relentlessly symptomatic, Sophia was transferred to an inpatient child and adolescent unit at another hospital with a diagnosis of anxiety. Here too, her symptoms continued to worsen and she developed an extreme startle response, jerking violently at the slightest sound. One week passed and high doses of anti-psychotics, beta-blockers, and other medications as well as additional investigation into medical causes produced no relief. Desperate for help, Sophia’s parents brought her back to the first hospital.

An MRI, EEG, and lumbar puncture provided no insight into what might be wrong and a neurologist reported she could find nothing amiss neurologically. After seeing another psychiatrist, Sophia picked up yet another diagnosis. This time her parents were told she had a conversion disorder and that they were to bring her home and behave as though nothing was wrong with her. With that, Sophia was discharged from the hospital.

At home, she continued to moan around the clock, jerked her arms uncontrollably, screamed hysterically, and was frequently catatonic. Frantic for answers, Sophia’s parents took her to yet another psychiatrist. This time she was diagnosed with a panic disorder, and though the psychiatrist admitted he honestly was not sure what was wrong with her, he prescribed two different anti-psychotics in an effort to stabilize her.

The attempt failed and by February, Sophia had refused to eat or drink for a full week. Treated for dehydration and released by the hospital, she was sent to an in-patient psychiatric facility. She was initially placed on an eating disorder unit and then moved to the OCD and anxiety unit. The two psychiatrists who evaluated her quickly encouraged her parents to have Sophia evaluated by a doctor who specialized in PANS and PANDAS. Sophia and her parents traveled out of state to see a specialist. With a virus and pneumonia preceding her initial neuropsychiatric symptoms, as well as positive streptococcus titers, the specialist confidently diagnosed Sophia with PANS and its subset PANDAS. Returning to the psychiatric facility with a proper diagnosis and treatment plan in place, Sophia was discharged.

Still suffering horrifically, Sophia tried to end her own life two days later. She was rushed back to the same hospital that had encouraged her parents to take her home and behave as though nothing was wrong the month before.

Now open to the possibility of PANS, hospital physicians agreed to treat her with intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG. Derived from the plasma of over a thousand donors, IVIG is used to treat a number of serious and life threatening medical conditions, including PANS. Sophia also underwent plasmapheresis, a procedure in which the plasma is separated from the blood cells, treated to remove auto-antibodies that may be attacking the body, and then returned to the body. Next she received Rituximab, a medication that halts autoimmune disorders by targeting and destroying B-cells, a type of blood cell responsible for antibody production

Though patients receiving these treatments often wait eight or more weeks for relief, Sophia was well enough to leave the hospital by the end of the month. Just as she was beginning to resume a few normal activities, pharyngitis caused relapse and she was readmitted to the hospital for an additional six weeks of aggressive immunomodulatory therapies, antibiotics, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. This time, the treatment would provide complete remission.

Four months after her final release from the hospital, Sophia is functioning just as well today as she had been prior to the onset of PANS. She is content, doing well academically, and on the school volleyball team. Surrounded by friends to celebrate her thirteenth birthday last month, Sophia showed no evidence of the year-long nightmare she had endured.

To understand how the physicians of a highly regarded hospital system could repeatedly misdiagnose Sophia, it is helpful to understand the history of PANS and PANDAS. National Institute of Mental Health researcher, Dr. Susan Swedo, first recognized what would come to be called PANDAS more than 25 years ago. While researching Sydenham’s chorea and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the mother of a patient with severe OCD and tics mentioned that her son had strep throat less than two weeks before his onset of symptoms. She had also noticed her older son’s tics would worsen a couple days before the start of a sore throat and positive strep test. As Dr. Swedo investigated further, she became aware that other infections also triggered OCD, tics, psychiatric issues, and behavioral problems in certain children.

Focusing early research on strep-triggered cases of obsessive-compulsive and tic disorders, Dr. Swedo published a paper in 1998 that provided clinical description of the first 50 children she had observed with PANDAS. All cases were characterized by an abrupt onset of OCD or tics following a strep infection. Many of the children also suffered from emotional lability, changes in school performance, personality changes, bedtime fears, separation anxiety, irritability, sensory defensiveness, impulsivity, distractibility, deterioration in handwriting and math skills, oppositional defiant behaviors, and nightmares (1).

A small handful of neurologists were swift to criticize the research. Quickly labeled as controversial, Dr. Swedo and other researchers would find themselves defending the concept of PANS for decades to come. Ruthless in their attack of PANS and PANDAS, several critics published a paper in 2012 in the Journal of Pediatrics titled “Moving From PANDAS to CANS (2).” Despite a large body of evidence to the contrary, they again called into question the scientific evidence for its existence. They also criticized the use of antibiotics to treat children with abrupt onset OCD and tics despite evidence that the health of many children with PANS was restored with antibiotic treatment.

After the paper was published, it was revealed that three of the authors, Dr. Roger Kurlan, Dr. Harvey Singer, and Dr. Donald Gilbert, failed to disclose that they had received financial support from the pharmaceutical company Psyadon (3). The company manufactures a medication for tics, providing a possible motive for their persistent criticism of the concept of PANS and use of inexpensive antibiotics to treat it.

Despite the frequent negative publicity, significant progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of PANS. In 2012, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford started a program treating children with PANS. In 2013, they hosted a conference with a number of experts from prestigious medical institutions and published a paper with clear diagnostic guidelines (4). In February 2015, an entire edition of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (5) was dedicated to PANS and PANDAS and in 2017, the same journal published three articles detailing full treatment guidelines (6). The articles were co-authored by an incredible team of experts like Dr. James Leckman, Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale University, who served as the Director of Research for the Yale Child Study Center for more than twenty years; Dr. Mark Pasternack, infectious disease doctor and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard University; Dr. Jennifer Frankovich, PANS rheumatologist and Director of the PANS Program at Stanford; and more than two dozen other experts from prominent institutions.

Though experts consider the controversy to be resolved, the vast majority of pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and neurologists are unapprised of the latest research and continue to misdiagnose children who have PANS with any number of mental health disorders. The PANDAS Physician Network, an organization that educates medical professionals and sponsors research of the disorder, lists only one or two physicians who treat PANS in many states. Considering that by National Institute of Mental Health estimates, at least 350,000 children in the United States have PANS, the number of doctors who recognize and treat it is woefully inadequate to meet the needs of suffering children.

For now, many children with PANS continue to wait for the medical community to catch up to what experts have known for decades. We can only hope they’ll be as lucky as Sophia and receive proper medical attention before it’s too late.

 

*Name has been changed to protect privacy.

 

References

1. Swedo, Susan E., et al. “Pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections: clinical description of the first 50 cases.” American Journal of Psychiatry 155.2 (1998): 264-271.

2. Singer, Harvey S., et al. “Moving from PANDAS to CANS.” The Journal of pediatrics 160.5 (2012): 725-731.

3. Singer, Harvey S., et al. “Moving from PANDAS to CANS.” The Journal of pediatrics 160.5 (2012): 725-731. (see correction)

4. Chang, Kiki, et al. “Clinical evaluation of youth with pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS): Recommendations from the 2013 PANS Consensus Conference.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 25.1 (2015): 3-13.

5. Chang, Kiki, Harold S. Koplewicz, and Ron Steingard. “Special issue on pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome.” Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology 25.1 (2015): 1-2.

6. Swedo, Susan E., Jennifer Frankovich, and Tanya K. Murphy. “Overview of Treatment of Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (2017).

For More:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/03/treat-the-infection-psychiatric-symptoms-get-better/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/04/11/hidden-invaders-infections-can-trigger-immune-attacks-on-kids-brains-provoking-devastating-psychiatric-disorders/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/10/01/panspandas-steroids-autoimmune-disease-lymemsids-the-need-for-medical-collaboration/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/30/child-with-lymemsidspans-told-by-doctors-she-made-it-all-up/

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, PANS, Parasites, Psychological Aspects, Treatment, Viruses

Second Jamestown Canyon Virus Case in New Hampshire

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/new-hampshire-reports-2nd-jamestown-canyon-virus-case-27643/  Sept. 2017

New Hampshire health officials have recorded the second human Jamestown Canyon virus (JCV) case of the year in an adult from Goffstown. This follows a case confirmed in mid-August in Hanover.

Image/Elionas
Image/Elionas

It is likely that this case was acquired in New Hampshire, but due to recent travel, location of exposure is not certain.

“As we head into the fall, it’s important for people to remember that mosquito-borne diseases like Jamestown Canyon Virus are still a risk in New Hampshire,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan. “We want residents and visitors to continue to enjoy the outdoors, but they should take steps to protect themselves from mosquito bites as long as mosquitoes are still around.”

LISTEN: Powassan virus: The spread is inevitable

Until the second hard frost of the season, residents and visitors to New Hampshire should continue to protect themselves and their family members from mosquito-borne diseases by using an effective mosquito repellant that contains 30% DEET, wearing long sleeves and pants at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active, and removing standing water from around your home so mosquitoes do not have a place to breed. Repellents with picaridin, IR3535 and some oil of lemon eucalyptus and para-menthane-diol products also provide protection against mosquito bites. A hard frost is defined as two consecutive hours of temperatures below 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

Related: Iowa reports 1st West Nile virus death of 2017

Initially described in the early 1970s, JCV is a mosquito-borne pathogen that circulates widely in North America primarily between deer and a variety of mosquito species, but it can also infect humans. Reports of JCV in humans are rare (Since 2000, more than 50 cases of JCV have been identified nationally. The cases have primarily been in the Midwest and Northeast) and most reported illnesses caused by Jamestown Canyon virus have been mild, but moderate-to-severe central nervous system involvement has been reported.

 

Category:

Activism, mosquitoes, Viruses

Of Birds and Ticks

http://mainepublic.org/post/battle-against-ticks-and-lyme-disease-scientists-look-skies#stream/0

In the Battle Against Ticks and Lyme Disease, Scientists Look to the Skies

By JACKIE FARWELL – BANGOR DAILY NEWS • JUL 3, 2017
  • Wildlife biologist Patrick Keenan holds a male towhee in his hand at the Wells Reserve last month before removing 54 engorged deer ticks from around its eyes.

    VIEW SLIDESHOW 1 of 8
    Wildlife biologist Patrick Keenan holds a male towhee in his hand at the Wells Reserve last month before removing 54 engorged deer ticks from around its eyes.
    TROY R. BENNETT / BANGOR DAILY NEWS

As we head into the Maine outdoors this summer, the all-too-familiar warnings about how to avoid ticks reverberate in many of our heads.

Stay on the trail. Steer clear of wooded and brushy areas where ticks congregate.

But while most of us take pains to dodge the eight-legged pests, Chuck Lubelczyk heads straight for them.

As a field biologist at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute’s Lyme and Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory, he studies the spread of diseases carried by ticks, as well as by mosquitoes. That means venturing out into the fields, forests and coastlines of Maine to collect the bugs and evaluate where they pose the most risk to humans.

On a recent June day, Lubelczyk trudged into the greenery of the Wells Reserve, a 2,250-acre spread in York County headquartered at a restored saltwater farm. He partnered with researchers from the Biodiversity Research Institute in Portland to collect ticks from creatures less often associated with them: birds.

The team, assisted by several interns, set up wide nets to ensnare the birds as they flew through the area. They then delicately extricated them, tucked the birds into breathable collection bags, and toted them to a shady picnic table for easier handling. Using tweezers, the team plucked off each tick — typically feasting around the birds’ eyes, bills, and throats — and preserved the bugs for later testing at the lab.

Lubelczyk held up a vial containing at least 50 tiny nymphal deer ticks swirling in a preservative solution. They’d been tweezed off a single bird, a towhee, that morning.

Once free of ticks, the birds were then safely released to continue on their way.

https://bangordailynews.com/video/ticks-on-migratory-birds/ (Video here)

While mice, chipmunks and deer get most of the attention as hosts for ticks, “Not a lot of people talk about the bird issue,” he said. “They’re understudied in a big way, I think. They do have a real role to play.”

Ticks are an annoyance to birds, but they don’t transmit disease to them or slowly and lethally drain them of blood, as researchers have seen among moose calves in Maine. But birds facilitate the spread of ticks, picking them up in Maryland, Connecticut and other eastern states as they fly north in the spring, Lubelczyk explained.

“As they’re migrating, they’re either dropping the ticks off as they fly or when they land. They’re kind of seeding them along migration patterns.”

Emerging diseases

By tracking the birds and the ticks they carry, researchers hope to predict where Lyme and other tick-borne diseases are most likely to accelerate. Lyme is now present in every county in the state, after hitting a record of 1,488 cases in 2016, but ticks are just getting established in areas such as Aroostook and Washington counties, Lubelczyk said.

Along with Lyme, Lubelczyk tested the ticks for other two other emerging diseases, anaplasmosis and the rare but potentially devastating Powassan virus. Powassan, carried by both the deer tick and the groundhog or woodchuck tick, recently sickened two people in midcoast Maine, following the death in 2013 of a Rockland-area woman.

A recent survey Lubelczyk led found the virus in ticks crawling around southern Maine, Augusta and on Swan’s Island in Hancock County.

In the modest Scarborough lab, medical entomologist Rebecca Robich furthered the findings of that survey. Clad in a white coat and blue gloves, she cloned a tiny band of the Powassan virus’ inactivated RNA, using a sample derived from the ticks that tested positive in the survey. Robich began the work, designed to confirm the earlier test results, last winter.

She expects to know conclusively within the next month what percentage of the sampled ticks were infected with Powassan, she said.

“We’re this close to finishing,” Robich said.

Growing exposure

Ticks have become so prevalent in Maine that Lubelcyzk and his colleagues are increasingly called upon to educate the public about the health risks the arachnids pose. That includes speaking at community forums, town meetings, garden clubs and even to groups of employees.

“They’re widespread enough now that DOT, CMP, people like that are bumping into them on a regular basis,” he said. “Even people like law enforcement. The warden service, regular police with police dogs, they’re exposed.”

Their outreach also includes plenty of phone calls to the lab, fielded by its small staff of four, not counting summer interns.

“If somebody calls, we never really turn them down,” he said.

Many people don’t realize that the lab no longer identifies ticks for the public, Lubelczyk said. Now located in Scarborough along with MMC’s medical and psychiatric research centers, the lab formerly operated in South Portland, where it identified a tick’s species for anyone who walked in the door or mailed a sample. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono has since taken over that service (it does not test ticks for disease).

“It’s very hard to say no to someone when they’re really frantic because they found a tick on themselves, or their child, or even their pet,” he said. “And they’re sitting out in the parking lot.”

So far this season, the lab has fielded numerous calls from worried residents only to discover after viewing a photograph that the tick in question is a dog tick, not a deer tick. Maine is home to 15 species of ticks, and the dog tick is not among those that transmit disease to humans, at least in this region.

Through its outreach work, the lab has also found itself at the center of debates about how to manage ticks. Lubelczyk recalled a town forum on Long Island a couple of years ago that grew tense as residents discussed the use of pesticides.

“As soon as the topic of any kind of spray was brought up, not even by us, by somebody else, the fishing community was dead set against it,” he said. “Understandably, they’re worried about the stock. It really makes that difficult because you start to have divisions in how to control the ticks.”

The lab’s research on the role of birds in spreading tick-borne disease is similarly delicate, because many birds are under threat ecologically, Lubelczyk said.

“No one really cares if you try to target mice. Birds are federally protected in a lot of cases,” he said.

That other biting pest

Educating the public represents a large part of the lab’s mission but only a small part of its budget. Its outreach work is funded largely through small grants from foundations, Lubelczyk said.

Most of its research funding is targeted toward mosquitoes rather than ticks, boosted by the federal government’s initiative to combat the Zika virus, he said. While Zika hasn’t appeared in Maine, warming temperatures due to future climate change could make the state habitable for one of the mosquito species that carries it.

Lubelczyk explained this as he stood in the lab’s testing area, next to a large freezer storing petri dishes packed with frozen mosquitoes. A piece of yellow tape affixed to the door warned, “Not for food.”

While Lyme is far more prevalent, diseases carried by mosquitoes, such as West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, can lead to more acute illness. Both can cause inflammation of the brain and other serious complications.

Funding for tick research is generally less reliable, Lubelczyk said. The recent Powassan survey, for example, was funded by the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, which collects money through the sale of instant scratch lottery tickets.

A continuing threat

The lab’s role in helping to prevent tick-borne diseases has only grown as the tick population and the diseases they carry spread. The incidence of Lyme in Maine is among the highest rates in the country, averaging 82.5 cases per 100,000 people between 2013 and 2015.

Anaplasmosis and babesiosis are less common but becoming increasingly worrisome.

Lubelczyk understands the illnesses on both a professional and personal level. He contracted Lyme several years ago, after a deer tick latched onto him while he made a pitstop on the way home from work one steamy July day, he said. He had just changed into shorts and sandals and jumped out of his car for 30 seconds to hang a mosquito trap in Wells, he recalled.

A day and a half later, he spotted the tick bite. After a round of antibiotics, he recovered, Lubelczyk said.

His usual garb for field work includes long sleeves and pants treated with permethrin, along with gaiters over his boots.

“It’s embarrassing,” he said, wincing. “We always talk about wearing appropriate clothing.”

_____________________

**Comment**

I’m thankful someone is dealing with the bird issue in relation to tick propagation as I believe it will be found to be much more of an issue than previously thought.  It would help explain why folks insist they’ve been infected while near trees as birds would drop them onto trees (as well as various rodents).  Like deer, birds serve primarily as transits that can spread ticks far and wide.

While Lubelczyk doesn’t feel dog ticks are important carriers (at least in his area) – he’s mistaken.  Every tick should be suspect until proven otherwise.  Think about it:  they all exchange bodily fluids with their hosts.  Dog ticks are known to carry Tularemia, https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/diseases/index.html Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Ehrlichia, Mediterranean Spotted Fever, Babesia in dogs (which should also make it suspect for humans), and potentially Bartonella.  http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ticks/rhipicephalus-sangineus/  No, it would not be wise to think of the Dog Tick in friendly terms.  Remember that ticks are moving all over the place defying commonly held beliefs about geography.  And while folks fighting for research grants want to promote and blame the supposed “global warming” mentioned in this article, there are many who disagree for good reasons:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/08/global-warming-numbers-fudged/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/08/14/canadian-tick-expert-climate-change-is-not-behind-lyme-disease/  John explains, “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,” he says.
“Climate change has nothing to do with tick movement. Blacklegged ticks are ecoadaptive, and tolerate wide temperature fluctuations. On hot summer days, these ticks descend into the cool, moist leaf litter and rehydrate. In winter, they descend into the leaf litter, and are comfortable under an insulating blanket of snow. Ticks have antifreeze-like compounds in their bodies, and can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. For instance, at Kenora, Ontario, the air temperature peaks at 36°C and dips to –44°C, and blacklegged ticks survive successfully.

Also, please note that although there has only been one Zika death in an elderly man with a preexisting health condition in the continental U.S., all the funding is going to it and mosquito research.  This is causing untold harm here where Lyme is causing around 400,000 new cases per year.  There is no official tally on all the other coinfections that often come with Lyme as they aren’t even reportable in many states but are a crucial detail in understanding the complexity of Lyme/MSIDS.  People are often infected with numerous pathogens.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/01/one-tick-bite-could-put-you-at-risk-for-at-least-6-different-diseases/

To treat this complex as a one organism/one disease would be folly.  

Also, he claims that West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis, can lead to more acute illness, I would disagree again.  Lyme (borrelia), Babesia, Bartonella, Mycoplasma, and numerous other viruses, and funguses have killed people outright.  Heart block, encephalitis, meningitis, and other serious illnesses are caused by TBI’s. Powassan can be transmitted in under 15 minutes and can kill. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is another killer.  There is much to show that if the non-cell wall and biofilm formation of borrelia isn’t successfully dealt with, it could lead to dementia or Alzheimer’s in the future:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/10/the-coming-pandemic-of-lyme-dementia/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/03/borrelia-hiding-in-worms-causing-chronic-brain-diseases/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/08/09/dr-paul-duray-research-fellowship-foundation-some-great-research-being-done-on-lyme-disease/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/06/09/alzheimers-byproduct-of-infection/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/01/18/a-bug-for-alzheimers/

And of course, while many cases of Lyme (borrelia) don’t kill immediately, it can make you want to die and disrupt life in such a way people commit suicide.  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/06/20/suicide-lyme-and-associated-diseases/, https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/07/26/can-lyme-steal-your-mind/

If that isn’t serious, I don’t know what is.  We need to completely kill the idea that Lyme/MSIDS isn’t a severe disease(s).

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Babesia, Bartonella, Lyme, Mycoplasma, research, Ticks, Tularemia, Viruses, Zika

Death from Tick-borne Virus (SFTS)

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40713172  July 25, 2017  BBC News

A Japanese woman died last year of a tick-borne disease after being bitten by a stray cat, Japan’s health ministry says, in what could be the first such mammal-to-human transmission.

The unnamed woman in her 50s had been helping the apparently sick cat.

Ten days later she died of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), which is carried by ticks.

With no tick bite detected, doctors assume the illness could have been contracted via the cat.

“No reports on animal-to-human transmission cases have been made so far,” a Japanese health ministry official told the AFP news agency.

“It’s still not confirmed the virus came from the cat, but it’s possible that it is the first case,” the official added.

SFTS is a relatively new infectious disease emerging in China, Korea and Japan.

The virus is said to have fatality rates of up to 30% and is especially severe in people over 50.

According to Japanese media, SFTS first occurred in the country in 2013.

Japan’s health ministry said last year’s death was still a rare case but warned people to be careful when in contact with animals in poor physical condition.

Globally, tick bites are widely associated with transmitting Lyme disease which can lead to severe illness and death if left untreated.

 

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

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (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).

For more on Bunyaviridae viruses:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyaviridae

*The enveloped RNA viruses are found in hematophagous arthropods (blood sucking) and include mosquitos, ticks, midges, flies, or sandflies as well as rodents except for Hantaviruses which are transmitted through contact with deer mice feces – even in the air.  In the advanced stage, of Hantaviruses, there is shortness of breath due to the lungs willing with fluid.

*Examples of Bunyaviridae viruses:  Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, Hanta Virus or Hantavirus Hemorrhagic Fever, California encephalitis virus, Rift Valley fever, Bwamba Fever, Cache Valley Virus, and La Crosse Virus (Wisconsin).  According to the CDC, between 2004 and 2013 there were 787 total cases of La Crosse encephalitis and 11 deaths in the U.S.[7]  Looking at the distribution of cases across the United States by state, between 2004 and 2013 the most cases of La Crosse encephalitis was in North Carolina. North Carolina had 184 total cases, followed by Ohio with 178 total cases.[8]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Crosse_encephalitis

*There was a Hantavirus outbreak at Yosemite in 2012 and put a 22 year old in intensive care for 10 days. http://www.wral.com/22-year-old-contracted-the-often-fatal-hantavirus-at-state-park/16850141/  The CDC states it has a mortality rate of 38% and that cotton and rice rats, and white-footed and deer mice carry it.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318645.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-us  Arboviruses:  Types, symptoms, and transmission  By Jenna Fletcher

*There are over 130 different arboviruses that affect humans.

*The three main genera are:  flavivirus (yellow fever, West Nile virus, Zika virus, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis), togavirus (Ross River virus, Eastern equine virus, Western equine virus), and bunyavirus (California encephalitis, La Crosse Virus, Jamestown Canyon virus).

*The viruses can be transmitted through insect bites, blood transfusion, organ transplant, sexual contact, congenitally.

 

Category:

Activism, Viruses