Lyme Disease Is on the Rise Again
npr.orgI have been suffering with this for the last year. I have to say, its really a heinous condition.
First, I didn't think much of ticks - I thought they were a nuisance, but nothing serious. So, after I got particularly attacked one warm summer evening, I didn't really care much for it. 3 ticks in one day - okay, not ideal, but I wasn't going to freak (I've been stung by jellyfish, bitten by snakes, hundreds of spider bites, the odd encounter with a wasp or two .. Australian problems...)
But, a few days after I brushed it all off, I noticed the tell-tale signs of the red bullseye targets .. and I did nothing. I simply was ignorant that it could get so bad.
Three weeks later, I was feeling awful - just totally shit. I happened to mention that I was in an area known for ticks, and my friend said "well, have you been bitten recently?" .. I recalled the event, and they promptly sent me straight to hospital for a blood test.
Yup, I came back positive for Borellia. 6 weeks of antibiotics, and real hellish symptoms - lethargy like no other I've ever experienced, headaches, lack of attention and sometimes real cognitive problems. Aches in every bone in my body.
Take this one serious, folks. Get yourself tested within days of a tick bite. Its really not something you want to go through, believe me ...
>Get yourself tested within days of a tick bite
Lyme Disease is very serious, but this is bad advice.
https://www.uptodate.com/contents/what-to-do-after-a-tick-bi...
>There are many different types of ticks in the United States, some of which are capable of transmitting infections. The risk of developing these infections depends upon the geographic location, season of the year, type of tick, and, for Lyme disease, how long the tick was attached to the skin.
>While many people are concerned after being bitten by a tick, the risk of acquiring a tick-borne infection is quite low, even if the tick has been attached, fed, and is actually carrying an infectious agent. Ticks transmit infection only after they have attached and then taken a blood meal from their new host. A tick that has not attached (and therefore has not yet become engorged from its blood meal) has not passed any infection. Since the deer tick that transmits Lyme disease typically feeds for >36 hours before transmission of the spirochete, the risk of acquiring Lyme disease from an observed tick bite, for example, is only 1.2 to 1.4 percent, even in an area where the disease is common.
>The organism that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, lies dormant in the inner aspect of the tick's midgut. The organism becomes active only after exposure to the warm blood meal entering the tick's gut. Once active, the organism enters the tick's salivary glands. As the tick feeds, it must get rid of excess water through the salivary glands. Thus, the tick will literally salivate organisms into the wound, thereby passing the infection to the host.
>If a person is bitten by a deer tick (the type of tick that carries Lyme disease), a healthcare provider will likely advise one of two approaches:
>●Observe and treat if signs or symptoms of infection develop
>●Treat with a preventive antibiotic immediately
>There is no benefit of blood testing for Lyme disease at the time of the tick bite; even people who become infected will not have a positive blood test until approximately two to six weeks after the infection develops (post-tick bite).
>The history of the tick bite will largely determine which of these options is chosen. Before seeking medical attention, the affected person or household member should carefully remove the tick and make note of its appearance (picture 1). Only the Ixodes species of tick, also known as the deer tick, causes Lyme disease.
.....
>Need for treatment — The clinician will review the description of the tick, along with any physical symptoms, to decide upon a course of action. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) recommends preventive treatment with antibiotics only in people who meet ALL of the following criteria:
>●Attached tick identified as an adult or nymphal Ixodes scapularis (deer) tick
>●Tick is estimated to have been attached for ≥36 hours (based upon how engorged the tick appears or the amount of time since outdoor exposure)
>●The antibiotic can be given within 72 hours of tick removal
>●The local rate of tick infection with B. burgdorferi is ≥20 percent (known to occur in parts of New England, parts of the mid-Atlantic states, and parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin)
>●The person can take doxycycline (eg, the person is not pregnant or breastfeeding or a child <8 years of age)
>If the person meets ALL of the above criteria, the recommended dose of doxycycline is a single dose of 200 mg for adults and 4 mg/kg, up to a maximum dose of 200 mg, in children ≥ 8 years.
>If the person cannot take doxycycline, the IDSA does not recommend preventive treatment with an alternate antibiotic for several reasons: there are no data to support a short course of another antibiotic, a longer course of antibiotics may have side effects, antibiotic treatment is highly effective if Lyme disease were to develop, and the risk of developing a serious complication of Lyme disease after a recognized bite is extremely low.
......
>Signs of Lyme disease — Whether or not a clinician is consulted after a tick bite, the person who was bitten (or the parents, if a child was bitten) should observe the area of the bite for expanding redness, which would suggest erythema migrans (EM), the characteristic rash of Lyme disease (picture 3). Approximately 80 percent of people with Lyme disease develop EM; 10 to 20 percent of people have multiple lesions. (See "Patient education: Lyme disease symptoms and diagnosis (Beyond the Basics)".)
>The EM rash is usually a salmon color although, rarely, it can be an intense red, sometimes resembling a skin infection. The color may be almost uniform. The lesion typically expands over a few days or weeks and can reach over 20 cm (8 inches) in diameter. As the rash expands, it can become clear (skin-colored) in the center. The center of the rash can then appear a lighter color than its edges or the rash can develop into a series of concentric rings giving it a "bull's eye" appearance. The rash usually causes no symptoms, although burning or itching has been reported.
>In people with early localized Lyme disease, EM occurs within one month of the tick bite, typically within a week of the tick bite, although only one-third of people recall the tick bite that gave them Lyme disease. Components of tick saliva can also cause a rash; however, this rash should not be confused with EM. The rash caused by tick saliva typically occurs while the tick is still feeding or just after the tick detaches, and usually does not expand to a size larger than a dime.
>If EM or other signs or symptoms suggestive of Lyme disease develop (table 1), the person should see a healthcare provider for proper diagnosis and treatment. (See "Patient education: Lyme disease treatment (Beyond the Basics)".)
Thought I'd reply with another great resource I've used with patients: Tickborne Diseases of the United States from the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/resources/TickborneDiseases.pdf). Great PDF to keep on hand (and in fact, UpToDate references it).
Coincidentally, I am in northern Virginia, went for a run and found a small tick on me tonight (for the first time ever).
Got bitten in 2010 while camping in Czechia, we failed to remove the tick properly and the head stayed in my skin so we had to butcher me a bit more and it left a tiny wound. Two days later I got the famous painful rash that I had no clue about, red circle, swollen and painful. I went to the doctor who immediately told me "you might have Lyme disease", I had never heard of this before but I understood that it required 3 weeks amoxicillin. I did several blood tests and got positive once to the borreliosis then negative after the treatment. So I thought everything was over but a month later I was feeling extremely tired, body and brain wise, I started to freak out that the disease was still there but blood tests were negative. This was during my exams period and as a student I was under high stress and the spot where I got bitten was still a bit swollen. The doctor told me that it was normal but the only way to be sure that the disease is completely gone at this stage (around 2 months after being bitten) is to do a lumbar puncture which I did (kudos to pregnant women who go through this ! I'll never do it again). The test showed negative, there was no way that I could still have the disease so it calmed me down and I accepted that it was just due to stress and hypochondria. Today I'm totally fine, this was my first bite and I hope the last one. This little bug is a pure nightmare.
I got 3 ticks in the past but luckily no lime disease... it's crazy how you don't feel them get in your skin.
(It is written "Lyme" like the town in Connecticut where the disease was first described back in 1975, not "lime" like the fruit)
thanks.
Just FYI - when I lived in Northern Virginia I discovered that in my area the main transmission method of Lyme disease was actually mice. So make sure if you find them in your house that you do something about it.
Also be careful when you remove via tweezers. If you squeeze their body you're likely to cause them to regurgitate into you which almost guarantees an infection.
I use a tick removal tool (actually used it yesterday while building a fence on the wooded side of my yard) that uses a tear drop shape to try and pinch the tick at the neck minimize regurgitation.
You can deploy "tick-tubes" to use the mouse-based-transmission to mass-murder ticks in an area.
Soak cotton balls in permethrin concentrate (you can get it on amazon) and when dry, put them in empty toilet paper tubes. Put the tubes around your yard in the spring. Mice will feather their nests with the cotton balls and the ticks will die in droves.
Also - After finding an attached tick on myself this weekend (hiking in PA, including some bushwhacking) I found the following link full of good info and somewhat comforting. Check yourself for ticks after every outing in the woods - only 1.4% chance of catching Lyme if you actually find the tick attached: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/what-to-do-after-a-tick-bi...
This video shows an even better way to remove ticks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82n9-eAoLjE
You take a q-tip. Soak in alcohol. Use it to gently rotate/spin the tick around its axis. After a few 360 degree turns, it will release its jaws and pop out all by itself, leaving nothing behind.
Make sure to not kill any opossums that you see too. Many people see them as pests but they eat a whole lot of ticks and while they can get lyme disease, their immune systems are pretty good at fighting it so it's not that common.
They also pretty much never get rabies, which is just cool.
I had to relocate an opossum recently and it was disappointing for that reason. Unfortunately it took up residence near my house (20ft away under a shed) and for the meantime it's a risk to a tiny puppy we have. It would not bother me if he made his way back in six months though.
That seems like a good reason for relocation. I would probably relocate any that lived in my yard (if I had a yard at the moment) simply because I wouldn't want my two 60 pound dogs to try and "play" with it.
A long time ago, I tried to remove a tick with tweezers. I failed horribly and left the head in my upper skin layer, having removed only the body. So I had to use a a rather sharp pen knife to remove the rest.
Two year later, while camping, I had to remove a handfull of ticks and a tick removal tool (shaped like a crowbar) was very usefull.
Of course I would recommend everyone to use proper tools to deal with ticks, if that's not clear from my comment. There's less risk to leave pieces behind.
All over, I must have remove a dozen of ticks, but luckily I've never caught anything.
It’s funny. I researched it and I could never find a good answer why you shouldn’t suffocate them with vasoline to remove them. All the articles just say it’s better to remove them ASAP even if you squeeze them.
Vasoline is not very effective and sometimes just results in the tick dieing while latched on.
I've stopped hiking and camping largely because of this. Its just not worth it any more.
This page has an uncommon photo of just how small the nymph deer ticks are. https://sectionhiker.com/backpacking-lyme-disease-prevention...
Something is wrong here. How did humanity survive living most of their lives outdoors for so long in the presence of these ticks? Did lyme disease really not exist until 1975?
I see there is some kind of "blame everything on lyme disease" movement going on as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease_controversy
Tick populations have expanded greatly in recent years.
Things like climate change and wildlife management practices are thought to be a factor.
(warmer winters->less ticks die, more deer->more deer ticks)
That sucks it is a climate change linked issue...
I already know I will find that more sensitive tests for tick borne diseases have been developed so essentially the definition of these diseases has changed, funding for surveillance has increased, the methods of counting ticks have become more sensitive, etc.
EDIT:
Yep, this looks like a good starting point if anyone is interesting in trying to figure out what is really going on. I'm not sure if I will bother:
"A later surge in interest in ticks and tick-borne pathogens has been inspired by recent claims about the impact of forecasted climate change on the spatial distribution of ticks and associated pathogens (Brownstein et al., 2003; Ostfeld et al., 2005; Diuk-Wasser et al., 2006; Ogden et al., 2008; Jaenson et al., 2009). However, this research has been fraught with difficulty from the outset because of insufficient knowledge about the nature of many tick-pathogen associations (Randolph, 2009; Franke et al., 2013; Medlock et al., 2013). A proper understanding of how abiotic factors shape the transmission cycles of tick-transmitted disease agents awaits a more rigorous analysis that is often limited by the current availability of data and the many indirect mechanisms that bear on them (Kahl et al., 2002; Eisen, 2008).
We assume that the many procedural and analytical errors in current tick and tick-borne zoonotic disease research are often a consequence of a lack of knowledge or of suitable training.
[...]
Typical problems include errors in tick identification (especially of immature instars), premature or erroneous reporting of ticks as new vectors and hosts as reservoirs, superficial data on the abundance and seasonal activity of ticks, inappropriate use of statistical methodology, and uncontrolled laboratory diagnostic procedures. The very ready accessibility of research publications online, at least in abstract form, tends to exacerbate the situation in that, as a result of superficial reading and subsequent citing, an erroneous conclusion can quickly become embedded in the literature. "
Need more Wolves!
And bird of prey, fox, coyote, bear, wildcats, mountain lions, human hunters, etc.
The entire ecosystem has been overmanaged to reduce predators, and the consequences are dire.
A lot of people in Connecticut honestly believe Lyme disease was a direct result of Three Mile Island. I find the conspiracy hilarious but others take it as fact
Tick populations have surged, mostly because of mice, rodent, and deer overpopulation. And we've killed off huge numbers of natural predators to those carriers.
Anecdotally, 15 years ago I used to maybe find one tick a year after frequent walks/hikes in grasslands or woods. Today I can walk the same trail systems and find 10+ ticks per dog after a single days walk even when they have tick/flea treatment applied. It's a frequent topic of discussion in outdoorsy groups and communities, vet clinics, ranchers, etc.
I see. Do you (anecdotaly, in your opinion) rule out that people are more concerned about ticks these days, so they are checking more carefully and/or often?
I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc.
You certainly want to check yourself after going out, but for dogs and animals the difference is just very outwardly obvious as you will see them crawling on their fur, on their beds, or you feel the lumps on their skin once they embed if you are petting them. Anecdotally this was not something I ever found 15+ years ago in the exact same environments. But beyond anecdote, by all official recordings (often from deer hunting, they measure a small portion of the deer and count how many ticks are found in a square) the numbers are skyrocketing, largely in line with concurrent overpopulation of deer and rodents.
> I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc.
I find that most people who spend a lot of time outdoors are also naive about Lyme. I can't count the number of people here in BC who've told me that Lyme doesn't exist here (medical doctors included). The employees at REI asked me why I was buying permethrin just to use in BC. They said Lyme isn't a concern here.
>"I find most people are naive of the problem especially in the west coast states, unless they spend a lot of time outdoors either recreationally, or landscaping, gardening, ranching, farming, hunting, etc."
Right but those different groups of people would have also existed 15 years ago so this is not really relevant. I'm just asking if the group that does care about it is more vigilant and careful than before, and if that could explain it.
>"You certainly want to check yourself after going out, but for dogs and animals the difference is just very outwardly obvious as you will see them crawling on their fur, on their beds, or you feel the lumps on their skin once they embed if you are petting them. Anecdotally this was not something I ever found 15+ years ago in the exact same environments."
Ok, so the answer is that the level of vigilance required to notice a difference is so low that it can't be the primary explanation? Regarding the dog anecdote though. If it is 15 years later the dogs are either much older or different dogs, so they may be rolling around in different areas, etc. Still interesting but that is why anecdotes are anecdotes.
Correct my anecdote is an anecdote.
The dramatic growth of deer and rodent population, as well as ticks, is well studied however.
Since you seem interested in this topic here are a few relevant links:
http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_...
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs141p2_0...
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6835501/ns/us_news-environment/t/d...
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/03/06/5182194...
Wow that first link has number of deer in Connecticut at nearly zero a hundred years ago.
On the other hand, growing upon Pennsylvania decades ago, both ourselves and our dogs would get covered by (dog) ticks whoever we went out in the woods or meadows around the house. Tick-borne diseases were much less of an issue though.
For dogs, at least, there is a Lyme vaccine.
From an ecological perspective, consider this.
Humanity is now one of the most successful species on the planet. Seven billion humans is an enormous biomass, and that our livestock make up most of the mammalian biomass on the planet. [1]
So that alone makes us a big juicy target for diseases and parasites which will prey upon us.
A communicable disease which targets, for example, bobcats, isn't going to spread very far or fast, given their low population and disjointed territory.
[1] http://www.kalaharilionresearch.org/2015/01/16/human-vs-live...
US life expectancy was 8 years less in 1970. There are lots of things that can do you in that people kind of put up with.
E.coli wasn't harmful but a new deadly strain appeared in the 1980s.
After a quick search it looks like the mainstream explanation is that people were just getting sick for "unknown reasons" before being able to test cheaply enough for e coli:
>"The sudden debut of E. coli O157:H7 in the 1980s made many people wonder how it had come to be. Was it the monstrous product of the modern food industry? Tarr and his colleagues analyzed the genome of the bacteria to estimate its time of origin. “These organisms have been around for 7,000 years,” says Tarr. It’s possible that E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic strains caused outbreaks for centuries before microbiologists could identify them as the cause."
Well, traditionally, they would die before turning 40 /s
Not to be the conspiracy theorist... But have you ever heard of plum island? Specifically the Plum Island Animal Disease Center which developed bio weapons utilizing ticks as the disease vector? Operations started in 1952. There were several documented cases of poor containment practices and two likely means of transporting the disease back to the mainland (swimming deer and geese). The evidence is pretty damning. Check out the book Lab 257.
I also stopped enjoying my favorite hobby, running on deer trails and through dense forests. I check intently for ticks after ever forest excursion, but it is very disheartening when I find one. They are so incredibly small it seems impossible not to missed one. Plus it is extremely difficult to check your hair and back and I rarely have a running partner. All in all, Lyme disease, indian genocide, and invasion of Libya are my top 3 atrocities US gov has committed.
Thanks, that is another possibility to consider.
I recommend to have one of these on you at all times while you're hiking
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Systems-34020-Lifesystem-Remover...
I got bit by a few ticks and we would always light a match, blow it out, and apply the still hot match to the visible back end of the tick. Scares the little bugger and they pop right out.
Unfortunately the way they pop out is, IIRC from Boy Scouts, at least in part, vomiting. So I was always taught to never induce them out because you'll still risk infection from the excreted stuff.
I soak them with 100 proof whiskey. They loosen up and it's also a disinfectant.
I've tried similar tools, and found fine point tweezers are the best. Some of these buggers get so dug in, they don't fit well between the sharp edges.
> Credit card sized
...
> $11.98 shipping
is it wrapped in silk and gold leaf?.
Here's one on Prime:
https://www.amazon.com/Tickminator-Removal-Remover-Prevent-D...
They tape it to a brick, then ship it
Wow, you would think with all that white (well, transparent anyway) space on that card, they'd print the directions directly onto it. As it is, they're only printed on the packaging, and they really aren't straightforward enough for a person unfamiliar with the card to pick it up and use it properly the first time. Shame.
As someone from the south, tools sold for the removal of ticks just makes me giggle.
Just use your fingernail, scratch it off carefully. I can't imagine trying to use this or one of the crazier, "heat a needle" or "spread vasaline on them methods" when trying to remove the sometimes hundreds of ticks and chiggars you might have after working in the wrong field for a day.
As someone who lived in the south and worked with people who specialized in tickborne illness, none of them recommended the fingernail approach.
Most "tools" are just a specialized set of tweezers, which aid in the pulling process in a way that doesn't separate the body from the head, and are generally recommended by the medical profession.
And the heating, Vaseline, etc. methods aren't just more work - they're actively harmful.
Doing it without a tool risks leaving the mouthparts embedded in your skin, leaving you prone to infection even after the tick was removed.
Ridiculously terrible and potentially dangerous advice aside, not everyone has fingernails.
Unless you bite them down to a nub, all you need is a normal, close trimmed fingernail.
Ridiculously terrible and potentially dangerous to remove a tick with your fingernail? I scoff at the ignorance. The great majority of ticks will be unknowingly scratched off before you even notice you have one dug in. So I guess you could use special tools to remove those last 10% that you happened to notice before scratching them off.
Just remove them? As long as you remove them within 48 hours you'll be fine. Why go outside? You might get hit by a bus.
I think state of the art understanding is that some of the communicable disease can be caught in under 24 hours now, 48 hours is way too optimistic.
I've read from a few researchers that if you find a tick, just start taking the 21 day antibiotic course right away regardless - even if the thing just dug in.
Removing them requires two very vigilant people. Also getting hit by a bus is arguably better than life-long listleness caused by lyme disease which might be inheritable to your future children.
Two people to remove a tick? And I thought these little removal tools were crazy.
You'll feel it itching after it digs in. Just be vigilant in the shower and use a loofa or other abraisive scrubber. Fingernails work perfectly fine as well.
Of the literally thousands of ticks I have had to remove over the years, probably less than 5 were ever left on for up to 48 hours. Most people will scratch them loose accidentally.
I've never felt itching with any of the ticks that've gotten me. A few big ones I just noticed running my hands over my body. The one that gave me Lyme I never saw at all. Luckily I got a big bullseye rash and with antibiotics never had worse than an afternoon fever for a few days.
I guess everyone's sensitivity to their bite and poison is different. I generally feel them crawling up my leg before they have a chance to dig in. But you wouldn't be used to that feeling if you live in an area that doesn't have many ticks.
Some spots on your body are very difficult to check carefully and/or reach for a clean, safe extraction.
I went to the ER once to have a tick removed. I felt absurd doing so, but I simply couldn't reach it properly, and I had no one else around to take care of it.
Some baby ticks are smaller than the period at the end of a sentence. They're very easy to miss, even if you are looking.
Baby ticks can still carry Lyme, and can infect you with their bite.
Were you taken seriously? I'd have to think that by what I have heard about insurance companies recently, they would refuse to pay for a hospital visit like that and you would be stuck with a big hospital bill.
That sounds extremely irrational.
Not saying ticks aren't a health risk. But an inactive lifestyle is also a health risk, and very likely a much bigger one.
There are things you can do to protect yourself and reduce the risk, e.g. using insect repellents and removing ticks quickly if you see them. Also for FSME there's a vaccine if you live in a risk area (for Lyme there is none, although a vaccine used to exist...).
"Not saying ticks aren't a health risk. But an inactive lifestyle is also a health risk, and very likely a much bigger one."
You don't have to perform activities that expose yourself to the risk of getting tickborne illness just to be active.
Given that the biggest inhibitor of an active lifestyle for most people is motivation I'd say do whatever you like, even if it carries minor risks. And I doubt ticks from hiking overall is a relevant risk.
Last year twice I went out in my yard for just MINUTES and came back with ticks. I assume that any tiny black dot is a tick, and I investigate with a high-power illuminated magnifying glass - the only way I can see that it's a tick.
Besides each door leaving my house is a can of "Off".
Not a criticism but I honestly can’t understand reacting like that. Use permethrin, do tick checks, and take other precautions.
Curious as to which geographic area?
In my neck of the woods you're more likely to be bitten by the lone star tick, which seems not to be able to communicate Lyme disease, but sometimes its bite can leave you with an allergy to red meat:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amblyomma_americanum
Parasites suck.
Please note that the Lone Star Tick can transmit a number of other diseases that are quite scary (various Ehrlichia, Tularemia), as well as STARI (Southern Tick Associated Rash Infection) which is very Lyme-like.
These also leave a "red bullseye ring" around the bite area, which is a common sign of a deer tick bite.
I got lyme disease after my first and only (as far as I know) tick bite. A round of antibiotics seems to have killed it, though I am still noticeably more tired than before the infection (anacdata, could just be because I'm getting older and under a lot of stress).
I reported where and when the infection took place on a local website which tracks these things. I informed the city council (considering this happened in a very busy public park) and I was pretty much told that nothing would be done. More green spaces would help. Keeping certain animals (like chickens) might also help. Killing the fuckers outright is another possibility, but I have to admit to being relucant about spraying toxic crap in public parks.
Encouraging a local opossum population, if they live in your area, would help. They eat a lot of ticks. Allegedly they eat 90% of the ticks that they encounter, which can be up to 5000 per opossum in a season.
>"up to 5000 per opossum in a season"
It looks like a single tick may produce 500 - 15,000 ticks per "ovipostion" (egg-laying session).
LABORATORY STUDIES ON THE OVIPOSITION, EGG-SIZES AND SHAPES AND EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT OF DERMACENTOR VA RIA BILlS, RHIPICEPHALUS SANGUINEUS AND AMBLYOMMA MACULATUM http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/cbgp/acarologia/export_pdf.p...
We're going to need a lot of opossums then!
I'd be curious to know how long the average life span of each tick is. I wonder exactly how many opossums I would need per square foot to ensure that my yard is 99.99% tick free.
I really hope you beat it. I know a couple different people that got it and it can be miserable. If you get it under control it's expensive, and if you cant afford it it's pretty much torture. Good luck!
I too often feel fatigued but wonder what part of that is just lifestyle / age etc vs any lasting effects.
The levels of exhaustion before I knew what I had and was treated, were insane. Often asked myself how I could be so tired.
They need to clear mice and mice habitat.
If you're a hiker, permethrin. Spray down your socks, pants, shirts. Let it dry. You're good to go for a dozen outings. Non toxic to humans, and orderless.
Permethrin is definitely the best option. But if you're running out at the last minute and don't have time to pretreat your clothing, Consumer Reports has a good guide to the best bug sprays on the market:
https://www.consumerreports.org/products/insect-repellent/ra...
E.g. both of these get high marks:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F8AMY92
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0015KG5NK
DEET seems to be more effective than the Picaridin for ticks, but if you have a sensitivity to DEET then Picaridin may be the next best option and supposedly doesn't smell as bad.
>doesn't smell as bad
If you look up the MSDS for DEET, it's actually odorless. The classic smell of Off! isn't from the DEET, and you can get odorless versions of it. I found a very good one in Moscow a few years back that just smelled like hand cream.
Not legal in Canada.
Then again there's few ticks in Canada's north, so Canadian hikers should just explore the northern part of their provinces.
Not legal to sell, but legal to possess. I go across the border and stock up at REI in Bellingham. No problems bringing it back across. Apparently this is quite common for lower mainland residents. When I brought 4 big bottles of the stuff up to the register, the first thing they asked was if I was Canadian.
Ah yeah that's a good distinction that I should have made.
I think I read somewhere that it's used by the Canadian Forces as well, but not made available to civilians.
I wonder why you can't sell it here. They even recommend it on the government's travel site:
Yes, but Lake Huron has some of the best dunes and freshwater beaches in Canada. It'd be hard to give that up.
That's unfortunate, I still spray before I leave to hike in Banff from the US though :)
Might need to carry a flame thrower for the black flies though!
according to wikipedia permethrin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin kills bees...
I think it only kills on contact with clothing, so as long as the bees don't run into you they're good.
Is it part of colony collapse disorder?
I see it like antibiotics - local usage probably pales in comparison to agricultural/industrial usage (e.g. sheep dip [1] and neonicotinoid usage [2] )
Yeah, I don't think dousing yourself with insecticide is all that dangerous unless you're doing it constantly like the agricultural examples above.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep_dip
[2] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-stren...
I'm pretty sure it kills all insects, but the bees would have to land on your treated clothing to be affected.
One can guess that the primary source of release of the chemical is not by rubbing yourself on things, but from washing your clothes. Thus, it would end up in the oceans.
When the alternative is Lyme Disease? I'm not giving it up. My cousin is severely affected by it right now, in her brain, affecting everything. It's awful.
You can get Japanese Knotweed powder from Montana Farmacy. It helped a friend of mine he is now functional. One or two tablespoons a day.
The ocean has a lot of water in it, and it is unlikely to be deadly at such low concentrations.
It would be so dilute by that point that it would not be worth worrying about.
More important than the concentration it degrades fairly quickly in water.
Sure but how many bees are you rubbing up against on a hike?
If you live in a target area, on the first of each month May-August treat all outdoor running and hiking shoes for your whole family. Also for dogs and cats use Frontline.
As long as you don’t get any in any water as it will kill fish.
Once a tick has been removed, be sure to place it in a ziplock baggie and store it in the freezer. This way if anything crops up you'd be able to bring the tick in with ya to the doc
This is good advice. Most people just flush them. It is important to remove ticks the proper way. Tick pullers are the best, and haven't failed me in removing the head after probably 50 removals from my dogs. Tweezers are a close second. Do not twist, and do not use the suffocation method or the burning method.
If you said this in the south, you would get a good long laugh.
I see you in multiple places on this thread with comments like these. So here's something to consider, Lyme Disease is actually not at all that prevalent in the South. https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps.html
Where it is prevalent, this is standard good advice, advice that we even taught in the BSA 18 years ago in the NE. Lyme is a really nasty thing to get, and not everyone even realizes they were bit, or is symptomatic at first. My case was when I was 15, worked at a camp, got bit, came out before I could notice, no rash. At some point later that summer came down with flu like symptoms, which went away in a standard flu timeframe.
Two months later I had extreme fatigue, I'm talking couldn't stay awake longer than 6 hours. Luckily a blood test confirmed it, but not before it had spread to my spinal fluid, requiring two hospitalizations, over 30 days of IV antibiotics and additional treatment.
So perhaps what works for you down South doesn't work where this is an issue, and hopefully it won't ever be something you or your neighbors need to worry about the way we do.
Valid point. But mine was simply that the idea of careful removal and keeping of ticks would be laughable in the south.
Find any outdoorsy kid in the south during the summer, and there is a good chance their legs look like this most of the summer: https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8241/29056330235_19aeb3585e_b....
Imaging carefully removing each one and storing it and classifying it for future lab testing.
The advice is only applicable in the NE.
Not by any of my colleagues you wouldn't.
And I'm an Epidemiologist who went to school in the South.
Your epidemiologist pals wouldn’t laugh at the idea of freezing thousands upon thousands of ticks every warm season?
I tend to think they would.
Tick borne illnesses are unfortunate, but for people who live in rural areas like I (and apparently jjeaff) have lived, where we would keep jars of isopropyl alcohol around in which everyone could put the the few dozen ticks they’d pick off their clothes and bodies during a one hour meeting, holding on to an individual tick just seems ridiculous.
If you get a red rash, or lethargy, by all means, go to the doctor. But in areas with high tick counts but low tick borne illness prevalence, tracking individual ticks just sounds silly.
Nope! Their suggestion (last time I had a tick bite) was to keep the tick for testing, because there are a number of different pathogens, with different approaches to treatment, you can get from ticks.
Naturally, there's a latent period, so you don't retain them for very long, but that's the advice I got from a woman who works with forestry workers in NC on tickborne illness.
Generally speaking, if it’s safe to do so, you want to capture and keep any animal that you’re concerned may have bitten you and transmitted disease or envenomated you. Be it a tick, a spider, or a snake, although it’s generally much easier to pull off with a tick than a snake. Emphasis on, “if it is safe...” of course.
So how do your friends suggest that they store the hundreds or thousands of ticks per season that your average farmer or outdoorsman might pull off themselves?
I guess we'll need some sort of rolling catalog system, labels for the dates etc. Perhaps a dedicated lab freezer with specimen vials would do the trick. Of course, if there are ever any symptoms, we'll have to have hundreds of ticks checked. I wonder what that costs? Would your insurance cover the testing of 275 tiny ticks? Or maybe we need a database system to take photos of the bite area, then we can bar code the offending tick and upload the photo to the system.
https://www.terrauniversal.com/gallery/lab_equipment/images/...
Given the testing involves mashing them up, I don't expect the volume of ticks to be a particular problem. Given the average incubation period for most diseases of concern is less than two weeks, we're talking about at worst a dozen or so ziploc bags, and that's if you're taking ticks off yourself every day.
Two other notes: I'm highly skeptical that "thousands" of ticks is your average outdoorsman, especially given the seasonality of ticks, and the reported volume of tick bites in forestry workers, which wasn't that high and my colleagues did consider appalling.
Second: "The South" which you keep mentioning is not made up of just farmers and outdoorsmen. It's also made up of major urban areas with large forest fragmentation issues.
Ticks were bad last year in NH, but not 5 ticks on a stick bad: https://imgur.com/a/bGdAvLD
Photo taken yesterday. I bought some old farmland and it has been a completely insane year so far for ticks. I wish I could do a prescribed burn of the field but it's not well set up for that.
The good news there, is that none of those appear to be deer ticks (lyme carriers). If my amateur eye is correct, those are dog ticks.
Any tick species can carry infections (Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, etc), not just the deer tick.
I concur, and photo evidence backs this up:
It's a good idea to check your groin and armpits after walking through high grass or other vegetation in a tick area.
This article and many others focuses on Lyme in the northeastern US, but Lyme has spread to the interior and the west coast. It's in up to 25% of ticks in many western states and around the west coast.
I find ticks constantly on dogs after taking walks/hikes in California/Oregon/Washington, even if they have tick/flea treatment. I've had one embedded in me that was so small and flush it looked just like a new tiny mole had appeared, it wasn't until it squirmed around after being brushed over a few times that I realized it was a tick. They can be quite a challenge to remove properly even with tweezers.
The tick population has surged dramatically in the western states and east coast, largely from an overpopulation of deer, mice, and other rodents, and an increasing lack of predators to those common tick carriers. Ultimately we to allow predators to return to the natural landscape and in abundance, with birds of prey, foxes, coyote, etc to take out the mice and smaller carriers, and we many more large predators, bear, wolf, mountain lion, human hunters included, to reduce the dramatic deer overpopulation.
And yes, thinning of known tick carriers like mice and deer is demonstrably proven to work.
http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_...
I grew up in Connecticut, not far from the town of Old Lyme where the disease gets its name from! Most people who spend any amount of time outside there know the symptoms well and doctors give away doxycycline prescriptions like their going out of style. I've gone through it three separate times. If you catch it quick, the antibiotics crush it and you're on your merry way. Ignore it and you'll suffer for life.
People around here (Niagara Falls area, NY) get it all the time too. Last year was horrible for ticks. I have 3 German Shepherds and some days i was pulling 10 or more ticks off them of multiple species. Reading this post makes me feel more confident for this year because i just got myself more than 30 chickens, but already this year my oldest brought home a tick. Hopefully they aren't as bad this summer.
I live in tick central, and for anyone else in that situation who doesn't already have a tick mitigation strategy, here's what I do (and I'd love to hear other things that work that aren't on the list):
1. Clear all debris (wood chips, leaves, etc) from places people frequent, and keep the grass cut short
2. Permethrin-laced cotton balls inside PVC tubes scattered liberally around the area. Small animals pick these up and make nests out of them, which kills the ticks while they're on the rodent hosts.
3. Permethrin on footwear, and safe insect repellent (DEET or picaridin, also geranium oil seems to help) on skin and lower-half clothing
4. Chickens in the yard seem to eat more than they host
5. Daily checks for everybody in the house
I live in Connecticut, where Lyme disease was discovered. I go hiking a lot and it's a big concern for many including me. I don't use sprays or anything I just wear light colored clothing and when possible (spring and fall) long pants. Wearing lighter colored clothing allows you to notice ticks before they get to your skin. And post hike, full body tick checks are mandatory. it's a good thing most don't bite until you've stopped moving and stay still for a while. I've pulled dozens of ticks off of my body, luckily only a few that dug in
Forgot to mention, biggest tip I have is to avoid tall grass and don't touch any branches or bushes but if you do then check you hand and whole arm.
As an American that moved to Europe, I was already aware of the Lyme disease risks of ticks here. What I didn't realize - and am in the 1 year process of getting vaccinated against - is that ticks here carry a virus that induces encephalitis. Tick borne encephalitis is not in the Western Hemisphere as far as I am aware, so it wasn't until this spring that I found out about it. The vaccine is not available in the USA and requires a year to complete, which makes me wonder how hikers or visitors spending only a few months in Europe fare.
Grandma got both. Encephalitis is definitely nastier (and can have permanent effects on brain if not caught in time). She also got bitten by the only poisonous snake we have around here. It still hasn't stopped her from hiking in the woods all the time
But at least you can get vacinated against encephalitis. Where is no vacine against the Lyme disease.
Here are some links to the CDC's statistics and maps on Lyme disease for those interested:
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/graphs.html
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps.html
https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/tables.html
As an aside, it's tricky interpreting certain stats regarding epidemiology. The incidence is the number of new cases in the population in a given time frame, and prevalence is the total number of people known to have the disease in the population. Sometime a disease can appear to be "on the rise" because there is increased surveillance and screening for the disease, or because diagnostic methods have improved, which naturally lead to an increased incidence and prevalence.
Disclaimer: I'm not arguing that Lyme Disease isn't real, isn't serious, or anything along those lines. But from a medical perspective, we deal with fear of Lyme way more often than the actual disease. Some parents will bring their child into the clinic every time they think they may have seen a tick within arm's reach of them. And when someone presents with an attached tick, it's more often than not an adult wood tick (which can transmit RMSF and tularemia but are not B. Burgdorfi vectors).
When you are bitten by a tick, or any insect, some inflammatory response is expected, i.e. your skin will probably turn red. It doesn't automatically mean it's erythema migrans (bull's eye rash). But to muddy the waters even further, as little as 50-80% of confirmed LD cases had the EM sign, and many don't recall a tick bite whatsoever.
But if you are in an endemic area, clinical suspicion for LD is high, we should be able to prove you have the disease with lab tests, right? Well, unfortunately Borrelia are notoriously difficult to culture, so that's out. The CDC recommends a two-step testing process.
Step 1 is the Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA). If your EIA is negative, LD is ruled out. If it is positive or "indeterminate" (2nd most common outcome after negative in my experience), you move on to the Western blot which looks for antigenic proteins associated with the disease. It is considered positive if 2 specific bands are visualized or if at least 5 of a list of 10 other bands are seen. The problem is that these bands can take up to 6 weeks after exposure to become detectable. If you have no idea when/if you were actually exposed, this test is a shot in the dark. To top it all off, it can also come back "mildly" to "moderately" positive for LD.
So if your EIA is negative, or if your WB is 2/2 or 5+/10 positive, we can give you a definitive answer. Otherwise, it comes down to clinical judgment and weighing the risks and benefits of treatment. If you were bitten by a tick, got a rash, had no drug allergies, the safer play is to assume LD, give antibiotics, and forgo the serologic testing that may or may not give an answer.
TLDR - Lyme Disease is complicated.
Please also add that antibiotics are not risk free. A lot of the post-Lyme stuff people mention sounds a lot like what happens when you obliterate your microbiome, thrash your gut integrity, and your body mounts a big inflammatory response to the mess in your gut. C. Diff and SJS are two other potentially deadly consequences of just throwing powerful antibiotics around without knowing for sure that they're needed.
Is this actual medicine or blogger stuff? I don't mean to be dismissive but most people I've seen talk about "microbiome" "gut" etc. seem somewhat quacklike
Do you want links to studies? I don't mind digging those up if you're actually interested. There is tons of woo surrounding the microbiome, leaky gut, and just about every other hot topic these days. There is also solid science being done around it. I don't work in the medical field, but I had to learn a great deal over several years after an adverse reaction to antibiotics kept me sick for a very long time (despite many valiant, and sometimes less than valiant, attempts by doctors to help). It was actually very frustrating to wade through all the fad products being hocked, even by doctors that should know better, and find nuanced information.
As for the really obvious, though fairly rare, dangers such as C. Diff., other resistant pathogens, SJS, and things like drug induced liver injury, I don't think anyone working in the medical field would question the reality of those.
Oh indeed, I haven't researched the subject, just know many quacks seem obsessed with "gut" and "microbiome" these days and wasn't sure if there was real science behind it. Glad you are doing better, that sounds like a nightmare!
The CDC is actually harmful with the misinformation and test suggestions they provide. I have Lyme, Bartonella, Mycoplasma, at least from 1 tick bite. Western medicine does a horrible job at analyzing the symptoms, testing, educating and treating their patients. The labs are pretty unreliable as are the antibody requirements for + test. 1) It's very common to get more than 1 infection from a single tick bite (CDC says it's not). This greatly complicates recovery. The study that the CDC relies on suffers from a small sample size and heavy selection bias (see uptodate.com). 2) Ticks can transmit multiple bacteria in less than 30 minutes depending on circulation and host. 3) CDC recommended tests have a false negative rate approaching 60%. ELISA does not even have repeatable results from the same blood sample. Western Blot ignores 2 Borellia specific antibodies (31,34) that were part of a problematic vaccine in the mid 1990s. 4) Vaccines are improbable given how the bacteria can adjust its outer surface protein (triggering antibodies) and its multiple forms (spirochete, biofilm, round body). 5) The CDC treatment guidelines are bullshit and usually result in a relapse 4+ months later as low energy, headache, sore tendons, brain fog, arthritis, heart, etc symptoms. Thus most people are unsuccessfully treated with short term doxycycline, steroids (make it worse), anti-depressants, MS treatments, etc... all expensive pharmaceutical treatments that fix some symptoms while hurting the long term health of the patient without every discovering the underlying cause. 6) I've gone through part of the CDC treatment before educating myself and realizing it was mostly bullshit. I know a number of people that have had similar difficulties. 7) A healthy immune system combined with prolonged pulsed herbal medicines(TCM/western) and/or multiple pulsed antibiotics (hard on GI and its immune function) seem to be the best treatment option. 8) There are number of bacteria in our natural environment that our immune system eventually cannot fight off. Many of them result in things like MS, Alzheimers, arthritis, heart damage, etc. 9) Medical science needs better testing of immune signaling (cytokines, chemokines, etc) before and after treatments. Most labs cannot test for many of these and insurance won't cover it. 10) Labs like igenex, fry, galaxy, dnaconnexions, etc have much better procedures for testing and will look at all specific/shared antibodies than common labs. For example, 41 is an early Lyme antibody shared with Chlamydia. The CDC requires 3+ Lyme specific antibodies to make a positive (IgG and IgM). 11) Reading "Healing Lyme" by Buhner gives a scientific overview backed by a ton of research that the CDC ignores. 12) ilads.org is comprised of doctors who actually treat Lyme and deal with patients ...
You should format your post. I think many people auto-downvote such a wall of text.
Other than that, I think it's information worth considering. Lyme has become a huge political disease, which is really unfortunate for the chronically ill patients who are left in the middle of this battle.
I reposted and this time the format took. I agree on the politics. I paid for multiple tests out of pocket. In one case to prove to my functional medicine doctor that I had Bartonella as well (the classic striped rashes were apparently not enough evidence for my primary or infectious disease doctor and the fact that I had a known tick bite).
One vial of blood for a PCR test to a local lab that the insurance covered (negative).
One vial of blood to Igenex for a FISH test (positive).
I had multiple rashes (spotted and striped) so I was over 90% sure at that point. My primary care doctor apologized and admitted that the CDC data seemed faulty. The infectious disease doctor never got back to me. Herbal (TCM/Western) is helping, but it's not quick. I believe pulsing treatments working with the human immune system offers the best approach these days.
My carriage returns were absent on the original post which I could not update. This should read better ;-)
The CDC is actually harmful with the misinformation and test suggestions they provide. I have Lyme, Bartonella, Mycoplasma, at least from 1 tick bite. Western medicine does a horrible job at analyzing the symptoms, testing, educating and treating their patients. The labs are pretty unreliable as are the antibody requirements for + test.
It's very common to get more than 1 infection from a single tick bite (CDC says it's not). This greatly complicates recovery. The study that the CDC relies on suffers from a small sample size and heavy selection bias (see uptodate.com).
Ticks can transmit multiple bacteria in less than 30 minutes depending on circulation and host.
CDC recommended tests have a false negative rate approaching 60%. ELISA does not even have repeatable results from the same blood sample. Western Blot ignores 2 Borellia specific antibodies (31,34) that were part of a problematic vaccine in the mid 1990s.
Vaccines are improbable given how the bacteria can adjust its outer surface protein (triggering antibodies) and its multiple forms (spirochete, biofilm, round body).
The CDC treatment guidelines are bullshit and usually result in a relapse 4+ months later as low energy, headache, sore tendons, brain fog, arthritis, heart, etc symptoms. Thus most people are unsuccessfully treated with short term doxycycline, steroids (make it worse), anti-depressants, MS treatments, etc... all expensive pharmaceutical treatments that fix some symptoms while hurting the long term health of the patient without every discovering the underlying cause.I've gone through part of the CDC treatment before educating myself and realizing it was mostly bullshit. I know a number of people that have had similar difficulties.
A healthy immune system combined with prolonged pulsed herbal medicines(TCM/western) and/or multiple pulsed antibiotics (hard on GI and its immune function) seem to be the best treatment option.
There are number of bacteria in our natural environment that our immune system eventually cannot fight off. Many of them result in things like MS, Alzheimers, arthritis, heart damage, etc.
Medical science needs better testing of immune signaling (cytokines, chemokines, etc) before and after treatments. Most labs cannot test for many of these and insurance won't cover it.
Labs like igenex, fry, galaxy, dnaconnexions, etc have much better procedures for testing and will look at all specific/shared antibodies than common labs. For example, 41 is an early Lyme antibody shared with Chlamydia. The CDC requires 3+ Lyme specific antibodies to make a positive (IgG and IgM).
Reading "Healing Lyme" by Buhner gives a scientific overview backed by a ton of research that the CDC ignores. 12) ilads.org is comprised of doctors who actually treat Lyme and deal with patients ...
There was an interesting segment about Lyme Disease on KQED's Forum the other day: https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101865065/lyme-disease-on-the...
Is there a TL/DL for that segment? Going backpacking this weekend and this whole forum has me worried...
the sad thing about lyme disease is that we dont have a vaccine due to anti vaxxers: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/7/17314716/lym...
Since the patent is expired, what stops is from being brought back as a generic?
The sadder thing is that this story isn't now trumpetted alongside every lyme-disease-is-growing story.
I actually personally remember considering getting the vaccine when it was available, since I spent quite a bit of time outdoors, and declining because my doctor and I were bamboozled into thinking the risks were real (that we now know to be faked).
The vaccine caused a number of issues. Given the nature of the bacteria, it's DNA and multiple forms, two of which are resistant to antibiotics (biofilm, round body-starvation form), it is not too feasible to develop a vaccine. It's a very capable bacteria. Try reading "Healing Lyme" by Buhner.
Fingers crossed there will be a vaccine back in production within a couple years.
Given that there are 16+ tickborne illnesses, the impact would be limited. If you get bitten by a tick then you should probably just go on antibiotics anyway, since there is no comprehensive test for tickborne illnesses.
That is not a viable option for many people working in nature. Farmers, sheperds, folks working in a Zoo, etc. They not have to take antibiotics constantly.
The fact that there are no good vaccines really makes me mad, especially as a hiker.
True, but according to the article, "Lyme disease accounts for about 80 percent of the tick-borne illnesses in the U.S."
Plenty of people who get Lyme don't get the rash, and don't necessarily even know they were bitten by a tick. Deer ticks are tiny and you have to check yourself thoroughly to see them. An effective vaccine would be very helpful.
> Lyme disease accounts for about 80 percent of the tick-borne illnesses in the U.S.
I mean how would we actually know that though if we don't even know what all the tickborne illnesses are, and if there is no test for many of them?
They probably mean the known tickborne illnesses. When illnesses are unknown it's often because they're rare, so it's probably a good estimate.
In any case, Lyme disease is very common and on that basis alone, a vaccine would prevent a lot of suffering, regardless of what other suffering remains in place.
Yeah, I've heard if you accidentally breath secondhand smoke you should probably start chemo too just to be safe.
Seriously though, if you actually hike in the northeast outdoors dealing with ticks are not a rare situation. In this past week alone I have had 2 deer ticks and 5 wood ticks on me . 1 wood tick actually did bite and it would be absurd to start an antibiotic course at this point.
I wonder how widespread Lyme Disease has to get before the economic incentives to develop a new vaccine reach a tipping point.
There used to be a vaccine but it was discontinued because of insufficient demand.
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease-v...
"In April 2002, GSK announced that even with the incidence of Lyme disease continuing to rise, sales for LYMErix declined from about 1.5 million doses in 1999 to a projected 10,000 doses in 2002."
How do we square this with the number of cases rising so much over the last few years?
I took the first two doses of LYMErix and started to get knee pain. I wasn't the only one. I'm pretty sure the reason they took it off the market is because is was causing issues.
LYMErix suffered from actual or imagined side-effects that led to lawsuits, which were a factor in GSK discontinuing it. From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/
"Spawned by the press coverage of vaccine risks and the ongoing litigation, vaccine sales fell off dramatically in 2001. "
there's at least one new vaccine in development http://www.valneva.com/en/rd/vla15
Aside from the rare negative effects, the major issues with it were the efficacy of around 80% and that it interfered with Lyme tests. (All of the people that took the vaccine test positive for Lyme Disease.) This uncertainty made it challenging to know the cause of future illness.
And only 80% effective means you still need to take all precautions like DEET and such.
Strangely enough you can get your dog vaccinated but not yourself.
>As of December 2016, a Phase I clinical trial was announced for a new candidate vaccine developed by the French company Valneva. The vaccine is similar to the SmithKlineBeecham product, but the vaccine is multivalent, targeting six Borrelia OspA serotypes. The trial will test vaccine safety, and a later Phase II trial will test efficacy.[xi] Baxter, an Austrian company, had previously tested another vaccine candidate in a combined Phase I/II trial, but the company seems to have abandoned development.[xii]
Safety standards for animals are lower.
And higher risk to play outdoors all the time unprotected, and different methabolism.
Does the fda have jurisdiction over animal drugs? I’m surprised they’d do an official clinical trial.
Yes, the FDA approves animal drugs as well.
Anyone that have Lyme, please look into PEMF solutions such as Ampcoil or Ryfe. It seems to be highly effective in treating Lyme disease.
These are scams by charlatans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Rife
The best treatment for Lyme disease is a course of antibiotics.
The best treatment for Lyme is a balanced immune system. Some people can be treated by a single course of Doxycycline, most relapse after 6 months and CDC incorrectly indicates that the cause is unknown. It's still Lyme. 2 of the 3 Lyme forms are resistant to antibiotics. Proper treatment will take months, or longer if coinfected, and require multiple, pulsing of antibiotics or herbals (yes, they are quite effective on me and others).
Couldn't find any published scientific results on the efficacy of "herbal" treatment for lime disease or "pulsed" antibiotic treatments from websites/doctors that weren't trying to sell the treatment.
Do you have any actual scientific evidence to back up your claims or are you part of what the New Yorker has termed the lyme quackery?
Herbal treatments can be quite helpful. Plants have developed compounds to fight various organisms over millions of years.
It's quite logical to assume, even without requiring a peer-reviewed double blind placebo controlled 100 million study, that nature has made it so, otherwise we would have single groups of organisms ruling the planet unhindered.
The fact that life on earth displays tremendous diversity and balance, from the macro level down to the micro level, means almost every organism has an equal and opposite adversary somewhere.
Plants and trees have a tremendous number of compounds developed over millions of years to fight diseases with. There is a reason, for example, that the Materia Medica for Chinese medicine is over 1300 pages of microscopic text. It's over 2000 years of accumulated experience on plant substances, while our modern pharmaceutical medicine is barely a few hundred years old.
There is also a reason why many pharmaceutical companies spend resources investigating and cataloging native plant substances. It's not that they want to sell herbal medicine, it's because they want to develop synthetic analogs for patenting purposes.
Which is also the reason you will never find as many scientific articles on herbal medicine, as you will find on pharmaceutical medicine. One is a billion dollar patent-protected industry, while the other is not.
it is for people where the antibiotic havent been effective, which accounts for almost a third of all lyme cases.
Reference?
I have this and was un-diagnosed for years, ended up doing all the research and ordering the lab tests myself as western medicine doctors were proving useless. For anyone struggling I would highly recommend this protocol from Dr. Buhner. http://www.tiredoflyme.com/the-buhner-protocol-for-lyme-dise...