Ticks Carry More Diseases Than Just Lyme. Here ’ s What You Need to Know
Chris Rose lost ten years of his health—not to mention his gallbladder—to a single tick bite. The tick bit in 2010 and Rose, now a 50-year-old network engineer in Chapel Hill, N.C., thought little of it at the time. “It was one of those lone star ticks,” he says, “and I just picked it off me. It wasn’t a big deal.” Before long, however, Rose began developing crushing chest pains, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and other symptoms. Doctors screened him for heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and gallstones, and even removed his gallbladder to see if that might ease the intesti...
Source: TIME: Health - April 5, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Disease healthscienceclimate Source Type: news

Virusoids: Viruses ’ Very Own Parasites
Virusoids are strands of circular RNA that infect hosts by hitching rides on viruses. Once inside, they can replicate and spread undisturbed. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - April 3, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: William A. Haseltine, Contributor Tags: Healthcare /healthcare Innovation /innovation business pharma & Source Type: news

No kittens required: Scientists find new way to study toxoplasmosis parasite in lab
One of the most widespread parasites on the planet can also be one of the most difficult to study. Toxoplasma gondii —a single-celled protozoan—is capable of infecting almost every mammal and bird species, including humans , and in severe cases causes blindness, birth defects, and death. Yet it only sexually reproduces inside the intestines of domestic cats and other members of the Felidae family, prompting controversial studies on kittens. Now, a research team has come up with a technique that uses gene editing of Toxoplasma to push the parasite toward sexu...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 31, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Four California sea otters died from an unusual strain of a parasite that could pose a risk to humans
Four sea otters in California have died from a rare strain of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite that scientists said could pose a risk to human health. (Source: CNN.com - Health)
Source: CNN.com - Health - March 25, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

Rare flesh-eating parasite kills four otters and could spread to humans
The otters all suffered what scientists called the worst lesions on their bodies that they had seen in more than two-and-a-half decades of research. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - March 24, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

News at a glance: Modernizing bed nets, IDing a Solar System visitor, and health lessons from Beethoven ’s hair
PUBLIC HEALTH Next-gen bed nets get go-ahead A new type of malaria-fighting bed net received a major endorsement from the World Health Organization (WHO) last week. The net combines two chemicals to more effectively kill the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite behind malaria, a disease that killed an estimated 619,000 people in 2022, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Insecticide-treated bed nets have helped drive malaria rates down dramatically. But in recent years, resistance to the insecticide used to treat nets, pyrethroid, has been spreading. That has contributed to ...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 23, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

New Parasite Is Killing Sea Otters, and Might Pose Threat to People
THURSDAY, March 23, 2023 -- A rare strain of the parasite Toxoplasma has killed four sea otters along the California coast, raising concerns about a potential public health risk. “The appearance of this lethal type of Toxoplasma in coastal... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - March 23, 2023 Category: General Medicine Source Type: news

Deadly parasite threatens California sea otters
Melissa Miller knew something was off when she began to examine a sea otter that had died in San Simeon, a coastal California town about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in the winter of 2020. Nearly all of the animal’s body fat was inflamed. “It felt like there were little bumps all through it,” she says—a condition the veterinary pathologist had never seen in her 25 years examining sea otters for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. She also found unusual lesions in the pancreas and heart. When Miller looked at the sea otter’s tissues under a microscope, she spotted a familiar foe...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 22, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Researchers Warn Cat Poop Parasite Killing Otters In California Could Pose Human Health Threat
Researchers are working to figure out the source of a rare strain of Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite commonly spread by house cats, responsible for killing four sea otters in California. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - March 22, 2023 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: Robert Hart, Forbes Staff Tags: Business /business Innovation /innovation Healthcare /healthcare Science /science Breaking breaking-news Source Type: news

Disease caused by tick bites spreading in Northeast
A tick-borne parasitic disease has claimed new ground in the Northeast, having been announced as being "endemic" in three more states. According to a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on March 17 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cases of babesiosis spiked…#northeast #cdc #connecticut #maine #massachusetts #minnesota #newhampshire #newjersey #rhodeisland #vermont (Source: Reuters: Health)
Source: Reuters: Health - March 22, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news

What Are Presentations of Neurocysticercosis?
Discussion Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is the most common parasitic CNS infection world-wide. It is caused by the larval stage of the pork tapeworm Taenia solium. It is endemic in Southeast Asia including the Indian Subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. It is becoming more common in other areas of the world because of immigration and the overall ease of travel. The basic Taenia lifecycle is that humans eat un- or undercooked pork (pigs are the intermediate host) that is invested with the larvae called cysterici. The adult tapeworm forms in the human gastrointestinal tract and eggs are produced. Humans are the de...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - March 20, 2023 Category: Pediatrics Authors: Pediatric Education Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news

Parasitic fungus that infects and kills spiders discovered in Brazil
Exclusive: rare purple organism preys on trapdoor spider in behaviour reminiscent of its ‘zombie’ relatives that feature in apocalyptic TV show The Last of UsScientists believe they have discovered a new parasitic fungus which preys on trapdoor spiders in Brazil ’s Atlantic rainforest.The rare organism, which is purple, belongs to a group of fungi that infect invertebrates and take over the host. A closeup image shows the fungus wrapped around the body of a trapdoor spider, poking out of the burrow from which the arachnid grabs insects.Continue reading... (Source: Guardian Unlimited Science)
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Patrick Greenfield Tags: Global development Environment Brazil Americas World news Wildlife Spiders Fungi Zoology Science Biology Source Type: news

Tick-Borne Illness Babesiosis Spreads to New U.S. States
FRIDAY, March 17, 2023 -- Cases of a parasitic disease spread by ticks have been on the rise, particularly in states in the Northeast that had previously seen few cases, U.S. health officials reported Friday. Between 2011 and 2019, more than 16,000... (Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews)
Source: Drugs.com - Daily MedNews - March 17, 2023 Category: General Medicine Source Type: news

Next-generation bed nets get major endorsement from World Health Organization
A new tool to fight the world’s deadliest animal—the malaria-carrying mosquito—may soon become more widely available. Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed using a new kind of bed net treated with insecticides. It combines two chemicals to more effectively kill the mosquitoes that transmit the parasite that causes malaria, a disease that killed an estimated 619,000 people in 2022, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Insecticide-treated bed nets protect people from malaria in two ways. They prevent mosquitoes from reaching the person sleeping under the net, and they kil...
Source: ScienceNOW - March 15, 2023 Category: Science Source Type: news

Parasite Drove Natural Selection in Amazonian Indigenous Groups
The findings could help researchers understand why some individuals are more vulnerable to deadly Chagas disease. (Source: The Scientist)
Source: The Scientist - March 13, 2023 Category: Science Tags: News & Opinion Source Type: news