Stanford study says ticks may cause double trouble

Stanford Report, February 18, 2014

A Stanford study has found that ticks infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and a newly identified human pathogen are widespread in the San Francisco Bay Area.

By Rob Jordan

Ervic Aquino
Researchers found ticks infected with the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and a newly identified human pathogen in nearly every Bay Area park they examined.
 

As winter turns to spring and many Northern Californians plan outdoor adventures, a mysterious, potentially debilitating threat looms.
A newly recognized human pathogen with unknown health consequences has been found to occur over a large part of the San Francisco Bay Area.


A study to be published in the March issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Disease details how researchers, including Dan Salkeld, a research associate at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, found the bacterium Borrelia miyamotoi, as well as B. burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, in ticks they sampled throughout the area.The researchers were surprised to find ticks infected with one or both bacteria in nearly every park they examined. The findings raise the question of whether B. miyamotoi has gone undetected in California residents. The research results are "an important step toward dispelling the perception that you cannot acquire Lyme disease in California," said Ana Thompson, the executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

B. miyamotoi has been known for some time to infect ticks; the first known human case of B. miyamotoi infection in the U.S. was discovered in 2013. Beyond Lyme-like symptoms such as fever and headache, little is known about its potential health impacts. In the Bay Area, low awareness of tick-borne diseases such as Lyme could heighten the risk of infection with B. miyamotoi for users of the region's extensive natural areas and trails.

Read the rest of the story: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/ticks-bay-area-021814.html