More studies on the effectiveness of various Lyme disease prevention measures

In looking to see if I could find the full text, I came upon this site where a physician rated the study and provided citations.

https://f1000.com/prime/1164580 

References

Effectiveness of personal protective measures to prevent Lyme disease.
Vázquez M, Muehlenbein C, Cartter M, Hayes EB, Ertel S, Shapiro ED
Emerging Infect Dis 2008 Feb; 2(14):210-6

Full Study:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2600214/  


How can we prevent Lyme disease?
Hayes EB, Piesman J
N Engl J Med 2003 Jun 12; 24(348):2424-30

Letter:  https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200309183491221  


Emergence of Lyme disease in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, 1993: a case-control study of risk factors and evaluation of reporting patterns.
Orloski KA, Campbell GL, Genese CA, Beckley JW, Schriefer ME, Spitalny KC, Dennis DT
Am J Epidemiol 1998 Feb 15; 4(147):391-7

Full study here:  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/300a/afcdabfd19e4a8cc17bba7ccf0b8b1177c16.pdf  


Case-control study of risk factors for incident Lyme disease in California.
Ley C, Olshen EM, Reingold AL
Am J Epidemiol 1995 Nov 1; 9 Suppl(142):S39-47

Abstract only:  https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-abstract/142/Supplement_9/S39/109581?redirectedFrom=PDF  

Lyme Disease Prevention Results of a Population-Based Case–Control Study

Peridomestic Lyme Disease Prevention

Results of a Population-Based Case–Control Study

Neeta P. Connally, PhD, Amanda J. Durante, PhD, Kimberly M. Yousey-Hindes, MPH, James I. Meek, MPH, Randall S. Nelson, DVM, Robert Heimer, PhD

Background: Purpose:

Methods:

Results:

Conclusions:

Peridomestic Lyme disease–prevention initiatives promote personal protection, landscape modification, and chemical control.

A 32-month prospective age- and neighborhood-matched case–control study was con- ducted in Connecticut to evaluate the effects of peridomestic prevention measures on risk of Lyme disease.

The study was conducted in 24 disease-endemic Connecticut communities from 2005 to 2007. Subjects were interviewed by telephone using a questionnaire designed to elicit disease-prevention measures during the month prior to the case onset of erythema migrans. Data were analyzed in 2008 by conditional logistic regression. Potential confound- ers, such as occupational/recreational exposures, were examined.

Between April 2005 and November 2007, interviews were conducted with 364 participants with Lyme disease, and 349 (96%) were matched with a suitable control. Checking for ticks within 36 hours of spending time in the yard at home was protective against Lyme disease (OR􏰎0.55; 95% CI􏰎0.32, 0.94). Bathing within 2 hours after spending time in the yard was also protective (OR􏰎0.42; 95% CI􏰎0.23, 0.78). Fencing of any type or height in the yard, whether it was contiguous or not, was protective (OR􏰎0.54; 95% CI􏰎0.33, 0.90). No other landscape modifications or features were significantly protective against Lyme disease.

The results of this study suggest that practical activities such as checking for ticks and bathing after spending time in the yard may reduce the risk of Lyme disease in regions where peridomestic risk is high. Fencing did appear to protect against infection, but the mechanism of its protection is unclear.

(Am J Prev Med 2009;37(3):201–206) © 2009 American Journal of Preventive Medicine)

Firing Up the Neural Symphony - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/health/brain-memory-stimulation.html

Three-antibiotic cocktail clears 'persister' Lyme bacteria in mouse study

Three-antibiotic cocktail clears 'persister' Lyme bacteria in mouse study

A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that a slow-growing variant form of Lyme bacteria caused severe symptoms in a mouse model. The slow-growing variant form of Lyme bacteria, according to the researchers, may account for the persistent symptoms seen in ten to twenty percent of Lyme patients that are not cured by the current Lyme antibiotic treatment. 
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-04-three-antibiotic-cocktail-persister-lyme-bacteria.html

Mepron - Helps knock-off Babesia. But how much to prescribe?

Yes, Mepron, despite how weird it looks (like yellow paint) it's a useful medicine. I took ot for about a year once, and it cleared up a lot of the issues in me old cranium department."

"For mepron to work you have to push the dose- 5cc tid for 5 months minimum and must be taken with a huge amount of fat- in absorption studies, the test subjects had 23g of fat with each dose! I had ordered blood level measurements after the third week, goal being 20+, but this test may no longer be available.

I use artemesinin SOD from Researched Nutritionals, but as with all artemesia products there must be a regular break in treatment- typically 3 weeks on and one off.

Cryptolepis, green tea egcg and sida are commonly added.

Specialty OTCs from Byron White and Susan McCamish help some but not others, and some have a hard time tolerating a full dose.

I also like to add transfer factors."

I think'll just file this, since I have already done that treatment. Just thought I would spread the word. 

Bob

Tiny, larval ticks can pack a wallop

1 

 Lyme Science Blog: Study finds tiny larval ticks can transmit 

Wed Mar 27, 2019 6:43 am (PDT) . Posted by: 

"Rick Laferriere" ri_lymeinfo 

*Study finds tiny larval ticks can transmit /Borrelia miyamotoi/*
/Lyme Science Blog/, by Daniel Cameron, MD, MPH, Mt. Kisco, New York
Dr. Cameron is a nationally recognized leader for his expertise in the 
diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

March 25, 2019
http://danielcameronmd.com/study-finds-tiny-larval-ticks-can-transmit-borrelia-miyamotoi/

Nymphal and adult black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks, harbor a 
growing number of pathogens.

But researchers are now discovering that larval ticks, which are even 
smaller, may pose an equal threat to public safety as a new study 
describes larval ticks infected with the tick-borne bacteria /Borrelia 
miyamotoi/.

*Read the Complete Blog Entry*:
http://danielcameronmd.com/study-finds-tiny-larval-ticks-can-transmit-borrelia-miyamotoi/ 

*Read more of Lyme Science Blog at*:
http://danielcameronmd.com/all-things-lyme-blog-archives/ 
<http://danielcameronmd.com/all-things-lyme-blog-archives/>

*Contact**Dr. Daniel Cameron*:
http://danielcameronmd.com/ <http://danielcameronmd.com/>

----------------------------------------------------------

Related reading:
*Vertical transmission rates of /Borrelia miyamotoi/ in /Ixodes 
scapularis/ collected from white-tailed deer *
Han S, Lubelczyk C, Hickling GJ, Belperron AA, Bockenstedt LK, Tsao JI.
/Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases/. 2019 Feb 26. pii: S1877-959X(18)30088-8.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.02.014

Abstract

/Borrelia miyamotoi/is a relapsing feverspirochetetransmitted by ticks 
in the /Ixodes ricinus/ complex. In the eastern United States, /B. 
miyamotoi/ is transmitted by /I. scapularis,/ which also vectors several 
other pathogens including /B. burgdorferi/sensu stricto.

In contrast to Lyme borreliae, /B. miyamotoi/can be transmitted 
vertically from infected female ticks to their progeny. Therefore, in 
addition to nymphs and adults, larvae can vector /B. miyamotoi/to 
wildlife and human hosts. Two widely varying filial infection prevalence 
(FIP) estimates - 6% and 73% - have been reported previously from two 
vertically infected larval clutches; to our knowledge, no other 
estimates of FIP or transovarial transmission (TOT) rates for /B. 
miyamotoi/have been described in the literature. Thus, we investigated 
TOT and FIP of larval clutches derived from engorged females collected 
from hunter-harvested white-tailed deer in 2015 (n = 664) and 2016 
(n = 599) from Maine, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

After engorged females oviposited in the lab, they (n = 492) were tested 
for /B. miyamotoi/infection by PCR. Subsequently, from each clutch 
produced by an infected female, larval pools, as well as 100 individual 
eggs or larvae, were tested. The TOT rate of the 11 infected females was 
90.9% (95% CI; 57.1–99.5%) and the mean FIP of the resulting larval 
clutches was 84.4% (95% CI; 68.1–100%).

Even though the overall observed vertical transmissionrate (the product 
of TOT and FIP; 76.7%, 95% CI; 44.6–93.3%) was high, additional 
horizontal transmission may be required for enzootic maintenance of /B. 
miyamotoi/ based on the results of a previously published deterministic 
model. Further investigation of TOT and FIP variability and the 
underlying mechanisms, both in nature and the laboratory, will be needed 
to resolve this question. Meanwhile, studies quantifying the 
acarological risk of /Borrelia miyamotoi/ disease need to consider not 
only nymphs and adults, but larval /I. scapularis/ as well.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ttbdis.2019.02.014

Chinese researcher wins Nobel for artemisinin research.

Chinese researcher wins Nobel for artemisinin research.

 

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/10/05/3709089/nobel-prize-traditional-medicine/

 

 

Inflammation and infections contributing to PD, ALS and ALZ

RNA Sequencing Reveals Small and Variable Contributions of Infectious Agents to Transcriptomes of Postmortem Nervous Tissues From Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease Subjects, and Increased Expression of Genes From Disease-Activated Microglia.

Bennett JP Jr1,2, Keeney PM1,2, Brohawn DG2,3.

Author information

1

Neurodegeneration Therapeutics, Inc., Charlottesville, VA, United States.

2

Parkinson's and Movement Disorders Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States.

3

Department of Medical Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, United States.

Abstract

Nervous tissues from both humans with neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) and animals with genetic models of human NDD, such as rare monogenic causes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and Parkinson's disease (PD), show activated microglia, suggesting a potential causal role for inflammation in pathogenesis of NDD. We performed paired-end (PE) RNA sequencing (RNA seq) of total RNA's extracted from frozen sections of cervical spinal cords from ALS and CTL subjects, frontal cortical gray matter ribbons of AD and CTL subjects, and ventral midbrains of PD and CTL subjects. Trimmed PE reads were aligned against the hg38 human transcriptome using Tophat2/Bowtie2 (ALS) or HISAT2 (AD and PD) and quantitated with Cufflinks. PE reads were also aligned using Bowtie2 against genomes from representative species of Toxoplasma gondii and Trichinella sp. T6 (parasitic infectious agents), Babesia microti and Borrelia burgdorferi (tick-vector borne agents), and Treponema denticola and Porphyromonas gingivalis, agents causing chronic gingivitis. Primary aligned reads of each agent in each tissue sample were quantitated with SAMtools. We found small percentages (<0.1%) of transcriptomes aligned with B. microti, B. burgdorferi, T. denticola, and P. gingivalis genomes and larger percentages aligned with T. gondii (0.1-0.2%) and Trichinella sp. T6 (1.0-1.1%) genomes. In AD specimens, but in no others, primary aligned transcriptome percentages, although small, approached significance for being greater in AD compared to CTL samples for B. burgdorferi (p = 0.067) and P. gingivalis (p = 0.068). Genes' expressions in postmortem tissues of AD and ALS but not PD revealed significant changes among disease-associated microglial (DAM) genes. Infectious agents' transcripts can be detected in RNA seq reads of both NDD and CTL tissues and vary from agent to agent. Expressions of Stage 1 and Stage 2 DAM genes significantly changed, suggesting the presence of Stages 1 and 2 DAM in our NDD tissue samples.

Early-Life Stress Linked to Cytomegalovirus Infection in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

Early-Life Stress Linked to Cytomegalovirus Infection in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder - Psychiatry Advisor

Individuals with major depressive disorder who experienced childhood trauma were more likely to test positive for cytomegalovirus. 
https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/mood-disorders/depressive-disorder/early-life-stress-linked-to-cytomegalovirus-infection-in-patients-with-major-depressive-disorder/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pa-update-dmd20190410&cpn=abilifybp_2018,psych_all&hmSubId=&hmEmail=oxzlu8VOo6028GfM3iIxouDkUNm4F2_W4Koe_eeSt_Q1&NID=1467449769&email_hash=eb0cbe3c09bebf20f2d40082ab8c1640&mpweb=1323-46314-5534565

What's known and unknown about Bartonella

Bartonella often comes along with Borrelia (the microbe that is believed to cause Lyme disease), in the same tick. It can also be transmitted by fleas and cats. It can be more destructive than Borellia. Here's a recent update explaining what we know about Bartonella. 

-Bob

 

Breitschwerdt explains what's known and unknown about Bartonella

Bartonella is often a co-infection of Lyme disease. It can be transmitted by fleas, ticks and cat scratches. 
https://www.lymedisease.org/bartonella-breitschwerdt/?fbclid=IwAR1nSomoxN3OOtC9FE6UI1d362u6EbjMRl8V-W9R6zLvF9RMZ1I4JrzMtBY