Ticks and the changing landscape of tick borne illnesses
Ticks and the diseases they carry have long been recognized as health concerns, especially in the warmer months when ticks (and humans) are more active. Ticks wait on grass tips or shrubs to latch onto new hosts when they brush by. Most of the hosts are animals, but a few tick species do bite and feed on humans. While doing so, they can transmit bacteria and viruses through their saliva.
But here’s what’s changing:
Tick species are being found in a wider geographic range.
The number of case reports of tick-borne illnesses is increasing.
Scientists continue to identify new pathogens (bacteria and viruses that cause dis...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - August 11, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Wynne Armand, MD Tags: Health Infectious diseases Prevention Safety Travel health Source Type: blogs
Babesiosis at Stony Brook University Hospital
(Source: Notes from Dr. RW)
Source: Notes from Dr. RW - July 21, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Tags: infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Babesiosis review
(Source: Notes from Dr. RW)
Source: Notes from Dr. RW - July 8, 2017 Category: Internal Medicine Tags: infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Finding the tick in time could save you from Lyme!
“Doesn’t it typically happen during the summer?” asked a worried lady that had walked into my clinic in November with a growing circular rash on her wrist. She was referring, of course, to Lyme disease, that scourge of outdoor enthusiasts. While the peak season for Lyme disease is indeed summer, the ticks that transmit it are active March through December. And, while this may be off-season for the ticks, it is a good time to catch up on how to stay safe in the not-so-distant spring.
What is Lyme disease, and how do you treat it?
Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is spread to peop...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - February 24, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Meera Sunder, MBBS, MRCOG Tags: Health Infectious diseases Prevention Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 397
Answer: Babesia sp.Interestingly, this case was identified as Babesia divergens/MO-1 strain by PCR testing. The currently unnamed MO-1 strain (found in Missouri) is closely related to B. divergens, a pathogen of cattle in Europe. Since the description of the MO-1 strain, other B. divergens-like organisms have been detected in Kentucky and Washington states.The morphology of the B. divergens and B. divergens-like organisms is slightly different than that of B. microti, in that the organisms are usually oval or elliptical and tetrad-forms are more commonly seen. The clinical picture is also slightly different ...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - May 23, 2016 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
pedia notes
Acupuncture
Andrographis
Babesia
bartonella
betterhealthguy.com – Scott’s website, lots of detox info
Biodentistry
bioresourceinc.com – wholesaler for Pekana
Biotensor
Buhner herbal protocol
Chlorella – thought to provide mercury detox, many think biopure.us is best. other brands are E-lyte and Sun
Cholestapure – supposedly less difficult to handle than cholestyramine
Comprehensive Medical Center – Kirkland, Washington clinic that acts as home office in the United States of Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD (425) 823-8818. Dr. Klinghardt visits intermittently and charges $7/minute. He has two...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 21, 2015 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Pandoravirus, bigger and unlike anything seen before
The discovery of the giant Mimivirus and Megavirus amazed virologists (and also many others). Their virions (750 nanometers) and DNA genomes (1,259,000 base pairs) were the biggest ever discovered, shattering the notions that viruses could not be seen with a light microscope, and that viral genomes were smaller bacterial genomes. Now two even bigger viruses have been discovered, which are physically and genetically unlike any previously known viruses. They have been called Pandoraviruses.
Both new viruses were isolated by culturing environmental samples in the amoeba Acanthamoeba castellani. Pandoravirus salinus was...
Source: virology blog - August 1, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information amoeba DNA genome megavirus mimivirus Pandoravirus viral Source Type: blogs
Lyme Disease
Pathophysiology of Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is an
1) infection with Borrelia burgdorferi via tick bite
2) previous thinking held tick vector was Ixodes but transmission is now thought by some experts to be possible with additional tick species
3) occurs in stage I and stage II days to weeks after infection and in stage III months to years after infection (usually with preceding latency period
Signs and Symptoms
Stage I
1) characteristic expanding annular rash with central clearing (“bull’s eye or “target” rash) that occurs in only 40% of infections
Stage II
2) multiple secondary annular skin lesio...
Source: Inside Surgery - March 19, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease babesia bulls eye rash coinfections deer tick erythema migrans hyperbaric ixodes target rash Source Type: blogs
Case 250
Welcome to Case 250! Here is a challenging case (in a little more detail than normal) to commemorate this milestone post:A 90-year-old male from Missouri presented with a 3-day history of fever and dyspnea. His medical history included hypertension and splenectomy due to injury. He lived with his wife and reported no recent travel, pet or known tick exposure. On admission, he was febrile (temperature 40˚C) and hypotensive (105/58). Laboratory values of note were elevated leukocytes (13,100 cells/mL; 58% neutrophils), decreased hemoglobin (9.5 g/dL), low platelet count (106,000 cells/mL), increase liver fun...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - March 17, 2013 Category: Pathologists Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 250
Answer: Babesiosis, due to a species other than B. microtiThank you all for the comments! Most of you realized that there was something special about this case given the classic morphologic features of babesiosis (with many tetrads/maltese cross forms), supportive clinical history, and yet repeatedly negative PCR tests for B. microti. (The fact that I chose this as the 250th case probably also let you know that there was something unusual about it!) As some of you mentioned, the blood film results are diagnostic for babesiosis, regardless of the PCR results, and therefore further work-up i...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - March 16, 2013 Category: Pathologists Source Type: blogs
Babesia Infection – Signs, Symptoms, and Treatment
Pathophysiology of Babesia Infection
1) Babesiosis is caused by the intracellular protozoan parasite Babesia microti and in Europe B. divergens 2) most severe symptoms occur in immunosuppressed, diabet6ic, splenectomized, and elderly 3) now clinically important in the USA and Candada as a coinfection of Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and Bartonella (which are all transmitted via the bite of the Ixodes tick)
Signs and Symptoms
1) acute flu-like symptoms – fever, chills, sweats, muscle pain, fatigue, arthralgias, and headache 2) petechiae 3) jaundice/dark urine 4) if occurs as coinfection with Lyme disease, the clinical ...
Source: Inside Surgery - January 27, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Infectious Disease atovaquone babesia babesiosis bartonella coinfection ixodes Lyme microti tick Source Type: blogs
