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climbingcoastie
Ice climber
Sacramento, CA
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Feb 13, 2016 - 10:27pm PT
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Oh and another thing. Health insurance doesn't cover it because "it doesn't exist" but you can't get life insurance if you've been diagnosed.
Explain that one!
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perswig
climber
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Feb 14, 2016 - 04:11am PT
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For those of you in the NE, in the last 18 months or so we've had a few tick panels on sick dogs come back indicating seroconversion to RMSF. In the past, we've had the occasional positive in animals moved from more endemic areas, but these recent cases have been native Maine/non-travel dogs, which I don't recall seeing before. (There's a potential for cross-reaction in the assay, I'm told, but not esp likely?)
Our usual infectious suspects for FUO, blood dyscrasias, etc have been borrelia (Lyme) and anaplasmosis (or Ehrlichia or whatever they're calling it these days), often co-infection, and Babesia. While not a tick-carried dz, we also see lepto fairly often.
Spring's around the corner. Do the DEET and check your nooks and crannies and those of your furry friends.
Dale
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Feb 14, 2016 - 11:31am PT
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Oh and another thing. Health insurance doesn't cover it because "it doesn't exist" but you can't get life insurance if you've been diagnosed.
Explain that one!
Yep, it's a vicious disease. The problem is I don't believe we really understand what "it" is. With so many known strains of Borrelia now and an even greater variety of co-infections we can probably assume that we don't have the whole picture nor have we identified all the pathogens.
Lyme sure isn't a man-made "Bioweapon" although like everything else it's probably been researched as such. Lyme is an old bug, a near perfect bug, something that only evolution provides. One strain of Lyme was found in the 5000+ year old frozen corpse recently uncovered in the Alps.
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fear
Ice climber
hartford, ct
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Feb 23, 2016 - 08:17am PT
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Some recent research has finally revealed lyme biofilms in living patients. It's always been suspected and can help explain the incredible resistence this bug has in certain unfortunate patients.
http://www.akademiai.com/doi/abs/10.1556/1886.2015.00049
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Feb 23, 2016 - 12:31pm PT
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Good point there, Fear, about Anabelle Nicholas Name being Schwarpreama. Never thought about it but kinda fits
Oh, yeah, bump because ticks suck
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Tickborne Bacteria Identified in Ticks from Texas
HealthDay News — About 23% of ticks from Texas carry bacterial DNA from at least one of the following: Rickettsia, Borrelia, and Ehrlichia spp., according to a report published online Jan. 13 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Elizabeth A. Mitchell, from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, and colleagues describe the presence and distribution of tickborne bacteria and their vectors in Texas. They screened ticks collected from humans during 2008–2014 for Rickettsia, Borrelia, and Ehrlichia spp.
The researchers identified 13 tick species and screened DNA from each specimen. The most common species were Amblyomma americanum (55.7%), followed by Dermacentor variabilis and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (15.0 and 13.0%, respectively). About 23.3% of the ticks originating in Texas tested positive for Rickettsia, Borrelia, and Ehrlichia DNA. Most of these bacteria belonged to spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR). The most common tick species found to carry an SFGR agent was Amblyomma americanum.
"Our findings underscore the importance of better characterization and continued surveillance of the frequency and distribution of tick species and the bacterial agents they carry," the authors write. "Continued monitoring in low-risk areas provides data regarding the presence of potential emerging pathogens and vectors not yet commonly identified, which could pose unidentified threats to public health."
http://www.empr.com/medical-news/tickborne-bacteria-identified-in-ticks-from-texas/article/465172/
Full Text:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/2/15-0469_article
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 30, 2016 - 10:00pm PT
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Long-Term Antibiotics Fail Again in Lyme Disease
Focus on Lyme and antibiotics for persistent symptoms called unhelpful
by Nancy Walsh
Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Action Points
Lengthy antibiotic treatment failed to improve quality of life among patients with symptoms attributed to persistent Lyme disease, a randomized Dutch study found.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/57044
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Sport climber
moving thru
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Mar 30, 2016 - 10:25pm PT
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BryanE, my most positive thoughts and prayers are with you. My husband, Dan, was a medical professional and knew what he had....no one listened except at the end, one Dr. in Thousand Oaks, CA. It was too late.
For those of you that think you have Lyme Disease I recommend that you begin tracking your life on a daily calendar. Write down your heart rate, pulse, temperature and very specifically how you feel and what your symptoms are each day. See if you can detect a cycle. My heart is with each of you. lynnie
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coondogger
Trad climber
NH
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Mar 31, 2016 - 06:19pm PT
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Folks with small dogs and cats should educate themselves about the dangers of permethrin exposure to small mammals. Cats are particularly susceptible to permethrin.
It's a horrific disease. I spoke or listened recently to a doctoral student who is studying lymes disease and the problems associated with reoccurring symptoms. One area of her research is looking at why long-term antibiotic treatments are often ineffective. Some of the studies are indicating that cells seem to have memory. A cellular memory that creates reoccurring symptoms.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Mar 31, 2016 - 07:10pm PT
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US Government Admits Lyme Disease Is A Bioweapon
That's just the sort of Screaming Mimi headline you can punch into google and identify all the conspiracy theory and nutjob websites and blogs in one fell swoop. Crikey, dumb and dumber...
One area of her research is looking at why long-term antibiotic treatments are often ineffective. Some of the studies are indicating that cells seem to have memory. A cellular memory that creates recurring symptoms.
Hmmm. I find that quite unlikely. The more likely suspect is the lyme biofilm capability and there probably won't be a real 'cure' until they can address that with antibiotics in combination with anti-biofilm enzymes and / or quorum sensing inhibitors. And right now nothing like that exists outside of generalized research on biofilms so at the moment any website or blog claiming to be able to address the biofilm aspect of lymes is fraudulent.
http://phys.org/news/2016-02-anti-biofilm-compounds-drug-resistant-bacteria-linked.html
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