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Thread: Lyme disease and other tick borne illnesses

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    Lightbulb Lyme disease and other tick borne illnesses

    Tick Genome Map Could Chart Ways to Stop Parasite...

    First Tick Genome Map Could Chart Ways to Stop Parasite
    March 23, 2016 — There are more than 900 species of ticks in the world, many of which carry serious diseases. In fact, ticks transmit a wider variety of pathogens than any other arthropod, causing thousands of human and animal deaths annually. But no one had thought to study them until about 10 years ago.
    Now researchers, led by Purdue University entomologist Catherine Hill, have mapped the genome of Ixodes scapularis, the deer tick that is infamous for carrying Lyme Disease. With backing from the National Institutes of Health, Hill put together a tick research team of 93 scientists from 46 institutions around the world. Their findings are published in Nature Communications. "A good way to think about a genome-sequencing project is to relate it to a jigsaw puzzle," Hill explained. "So you break everything up like little pieces of DNA and then you have to put them back together again."


    Ixodes scapularis, commonly known as the deer tick, transmits Lyme disease, the most common U.S. tick-borne illness.

    Among other things, the researchers identified a long list of genes that control smell and taste receptors, and discovered that ticks smell with their feet. The creatures climb blades of grass and hold their feet out until they sense a host to hop onto. With that information, scientists can design sprays and repellents to disrupt the tick’s abilities to find a host or perhaps even to mate and propagate.

    Targeted pesticides and medicines

    The researchers also determined that about 20 percent of the creature's genes are unique to ticks, which Hill says could lead to highly focused pesticides. "If we target these particular molecules we can make designer chemistries that are very specific or unique to the tick. We would be controlling only the tick and not affecting other organisms in the environment," she said. "And that means that we would be aiming to design more environmentally acceptable products for tick control."

    Hill’s colleague, virologist Richard Kuhn, heads Purdue's Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases. He sees the tick genome map as a gateway for the development of new drugs, noting that although ticks and humans use the same biological approach to disable viruses, ticks have developed immunity to many of the pathogens they carry. Kuhn suggests scientists could apply the same principles to human medicine. Knowledge of the Ixodes scapularis genome will not only help scientists develop vaccines for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and a form of encephalitis, it could also prevent future tick-related epidemics.

    Preparing for the spread of ticks

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    Brett Nortje's Avatar Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by waltky View Post
    Tick Genome Map Could Chart Ways to Stop Parasite...

    First Tick Genome Map Could Chart Ways to Stop Parasite
    March 23, 2016 — There are more than 900 species of ticks in the world, many of which carry serious diseases. In fact, ticks transmit a wider variety of pathogens than any other arthropod, causing thousands of human and animal deaths annually. But no one had thought to study them until about 10 years ago.
    If you want to wipe ticks out, you could put together a disease for them, sure, but the disease needs to be born just for them. this means, of course, if they got something that kills rapidly like cholera? this would kill the tick quickly.

    To get the disease from the test tube to the tick, we could easily leave dead rats around with cholera and the ticks could 'bite them.' of course, we could use a better disease, one that dries up the tick, like tuberculosis which will dry the little tick up quickly and disorient it. this can be spread among ticks by spraying areas near to the human inhabited enclaves with spray cans - now we just need to find the right disease!

    Maybe the best disease to give to insects is something that causes dryness? i would go with tuberculosis or pneumonia as others suggest.
    !! Thug LIfe !!

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    Japanese woman dies from tick disease caught from infected cat...

    Woman dies from tick disease caught from infected cat
    Tue, 25 Jul 2017 - The Japanese case is thought to be the first time the illness was transmitted by an infected mammal.
    A Japanese woman has died of a tick-borne disease caught from a cat, in what is thought to be the first such mammal to human transmission. Japan's health ministry said the woman in her 50s had been helping a weakening stray cat when she was bitten. Ten days later, she died of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), which is carried by ticks.


    Cute - but potentially carrying a deadly virus?

    With no tick bite detected, doctors assume the illness must have been contracted via the infected cat. Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS) is an relatively new infectious disease emerging in China, Korea and Japan. The virus is said to have fatally rates between 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 the recent 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.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40713172
    See also:

    What diseases can we catch from our pets?
    Following the announcement that two people in England have been infected with tuberculosis by their cat, public health experts were quick to offer reassurance.
    The risk of transmission was "very low" and the presence of the infection in cats was "uncommon", they said. In fact, humans get many of the same diseases as our pets and often people and animals can be infected from the same source. Here we look at some of the main diseases that can be caught from our pets - and the risks involved.

    Cats

    The most common infection from cats is Cat Scratch Disease, which is caused by the Bartonella bacterium. People usually become infected after being scratched or bitten by a cat and experience swelling around the site of the scratch, and fatigue. It cannot be transmitted between people. Cats are also the main carriers of the tiny T. gondii parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, but it's also found in dogs, sheep and cattle. The parasite is often found in the faeces of infected cats. You may not know whether your cat is infected or not because cats don't usually show any symptoms.

    ]

    If the parasite gets into the environment or food chain, it can be ingested by humans. The greatest risk is to pregnant women, who could pass the infection on to their unborn baby, potentially causing brain damage and blindness, but severe congenital toxoplasmosis is rare - three in every 100,000 babies are born with the condition in the UK. Up to a third of the UK population will acquire a toxoplasmosis infection at some point in their life but most people won't notice any symptoms. If symptoms do appear, they will be similar to flu or glandular fever.

    Dogs

    Ticks can give both dogs and humans Lyme disease, but it is no more likely that a tick would transfer from pet to person than from human to hound. The most common symptom is a red rash around the tick bite. Flu-like symptoms follow but if left untreated, Lyme disease can cause the joints to swell and lead to neurological problems. Ticks that cause Lyme disease are commonly found in woodland and heath areas where dogs and their owners could be walking. Rabies occurs mostly in dogs (and also in bats) but there is no risk to the general public in the UK from rabies in dogs.


    Only four cases of human rabies from dogs have been identified in this country since 2000 - all of which were acquired from dogs abroad. Rabies, a very serious viral infection, is usually transmitted through saliva from the bite of an infected dog. It causes a high fever and aggressive behaviour but it can also spread to the brain and nervous system, and can be fatal. Developing countries, particularly in South and South East Asia, see most of the 55,000 deaths from human rabies in the world each year.

    Parrots


    Psittacosis is a bacterial infection that affects birds, particularly parrots. It can also affect other exotic species such as budgies, $#@!atiels and macaws as well as ducks, gulls, sparrows and hens. It is an airborne disease that can be passed to people who own or work with exotic birds. It causes a high fever, diarrhoea, eye infection and bright red spots - but there are few cases in the UK. Check where that colourful parrot comes from before you take it home.

    Reptiles & Rodents

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    The heck with them thar ticks. I get tick bit often!
    There is no God but Resister and Refugee is his messenger’.

    Book of Democrat Things, Chapter 1:1






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    Red face

    Granny always checkin' possum fer ticks...

    Researchers Developing New Test for Lyme Disease
    August 16, 2017 | WASHINGTON — Diagnosing if a tick bite caused Lyme or another disease can be difficult, but scientists are developing a new way to do it early — using a "signature" of molecules in patients' blood.
    It's still highly experimental, but initial studies suggest the novel tool just might uncover early-stage Lyme disease more accurately than today's standard test, researchers reported Wednesday. And it could tell the difference between two tick-borne diseases with nearly identical early symptoms. "Think about it as looking at a fingerprint," said microbiology professor John Belisle of Colorado State University, who helped lead the research.



    Ixodes scapularis, commonly known as the deer tick, transmits Lyme disease, the most common U.S. tick-borne illness.



    Lyme disease is estimated to infect 300,000 people in the U.S. every year. Lyme-causing bacteria are spread by blacklegged ticks — also called deer ticks — primarily in the Northeast and Midwest, although their range is spreading. Lyme typically starts as a fever, fatigue and flu-like symptoms — often but not always with a hallmark bull's-eye rash — and people usually recover quickly with prompt antibiotics. But untreated, Lyme causes more serious complications, including swollen joints and arthritis, memory and concentration problems, even irregular heartbeat.


    Yet today's best available test often misses early Lyme. It's considered no more than 40 percent accurate in the first few weeks of infection. It measures infection-fighting antibodies the immune system produces. Those take a while to form, making the test more useful a month or more after infection sets in than when people first start feeling ill. "We are trying our best to come up with something to help the diagnosis in the very early stages of this infection," said microbiologist Claudia Molins of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who teamed with Belisle to develop a new test. "Our goal really is to try to fill that gap."


    Checking for a marker

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    Resister say's "Put Vaseline or butter or Auto grease on a tick, chokes em and makes em let go and take their mouth parts with em!
    There is no God but Resister and Refugee is his messenger’.

    Book of Democrat Things, Chapter 1:1






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    Watch fer ticks - Lyme Disease Is On The Rise Again...


    Lyme Disease Is On The Rise Again. Here's How To Prevent It
    May 7, 2018 - Lyme disease was once unheard of in western Pennsylvania, where Barbara Thorne, now an entomologist at the University of Maryland, spent time as a kid.
    Thorne knew that if black-legged ticks are infected with bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi, they can transmit Lyme to people and, that if untreated, symptoms can range from fever, fatigue and a rash, to serious damage to the joints, heart and nervous system. But she didn't realize that ticks in that part of Pennsylvania had become broadly infected with the bacteria. That is, until she was bitten during a family reunion weekend. She never saw the tick on her body. But about eight or nine days later, after returning home, she became suspicious. "I noticed a roundish red rash above my waistline and it expanded each day," she recalls. "I was also feeling sick with exhaustion and achiness."


    Her primary care doctor diagnosed her with Lyme disease and prescribed a course of antibiotics. After a few months, she felt better. "I felt very lucky to have had the rash appear as literally a red flag," Thorne says. It's a telltale warning sign of the disease. But not everyone with a Lyme infection develops a rash. And other symptoms, such as fatigue and aches, overlap with common illnesses. So, spotting Lyme disease can be tricky. Some people don't realize they're infected and don't seek medical treatment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the actual prevalence of Lyme disease infections is 10 times higher than the number of reported cases.



    Because data are reported on the county level, the CDC randomly placed a dot within the county of residence for each case.


    Tick-borne diseases have been "steadily going up every year ... as the diseases expand to new areas around the country," Lyle Peterson of the CDC told reporters in a recent conference call announcing the updated infection estimates. Lyme disease accounts for about 80 percent of the tick-borne illnesses in the U.S. Another factor that can contribute to the underreporting of cases is a lack of effective surveillance and tracking. "People just go to their local doctor to be treated," says Peterson, and the doctor may not report the case to the local or state health department. Or, if the case is reported by the doctor, he says, sometimes "state health departments have a very difficult time keeping up with the sheer number of cases reports."


    There's another factor at play, too: shortcomings in the way the infection is diagnosed. "Many of the tests for Lyme disease are negative at the time that patients first visit their doctor," says Dr. Paul Fiedler, a clinical pathologist on Yale School of Medicine's faculty who also heads the department of pathology at Western Connecticut Health Network. Blood tests to detect Lyme disease rely on a person's immune response, Fiedler explains, and after infection with the bacteria, it takes time — sometimes as long as 10 to 30 days — for the body to mount a measurable response. The blood tests detect Lyme-specific antibodies. If somebody is tested before the immune system has produced enough antibodies, the result will be a false negative. "And the diagnosis could be missed," Fiedler says. The subsequent lack of treatment after a missed diagnosis can lead to serious health problems.


    MORE
    Last edited by waltky; 05-07-2018 at 12:53 PM.

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