Not all tick removal methods are safe. Certain removal methods may increase your chances of contracting Lyme disease.
Safe Tick Removal
Abstract Lyme disease is a complex tick-borne zoonosis that poses an escalating public health threat in several parts of the world, despite sophisticated healthcare infrastructure and decades of effort to address the problem. Concepts like the true burden of the illness, from incidence rates to longstanding consequences of infection, and optimal case management, also remain shrouded in controversy. At the Continues →
National Geographic “Zoonotic diseases, which pass from animals to humans, kill millions of people every year. Where do they come from and how can we avoid them?” ” Some zoonotic diseases are relatively benign, but many—for example, Lyme disease—are quite harmful. Some, such as the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, can be deadly. “ Read full article
Abstract This study provides a novel method of documenting established populations of bird-feeding ticks. Single populations of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, and the rabbit tick, Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, were revealed in southwestern Québec, Canada. Blacklegged tick nymphs and, similarly, larval and nymphal rabbit ticks were tested for the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl), using PCR and the flagellin (flaB) gene, and Continues →
FYI… Best good advice on COVID-19 that applies to us all by a front line physician at one of the busiest COVID hospitals in the US. Knowledge saves lives, reduces fear. Pass along if you feel this is important information. Watch Presentation
Excellent presentations at Nova Scotia conference, fall 2019. Watch now
Dr. Ralph Hawkins gave an excellent talk at the Bridgewater, N.S. conference where he delved into the many problems with diagnostics, treatment and surveillance of Lyme disease. He also broached the topic from a legal perspective discussing the legal principles pertaining to Standard of Care. Watch presentation
Minister of Health Patty Hajdu readily admits there is “still lots to learn” about treatment of Lyme disease but as typical opts to keep sick people sick without options of extended antibiotic treatment that has helped hundreds of thousands of people who had to leave Canada for help. Instead she wants more research, none of which is going to help Continues →
March 12, 2020 “For decades, the routine treatment for Lyme disease has been standard antibiotics, which usually kill off the infection. But for up to 20% of people with the tick-borne illness, the antibiotics don’t work, and lingering symptoms of muscle pain, fatigue and cognitive impairment can continue for years — sometimes indefinitely. A new Stanford Medicine study …” Read Continues →
March 8, 2020 “She got the tick-borne illness in 2003, and had to undergo open-throat surgery after her voice was damaged by the effects of dysphonia as a result of the disease. Now, Shania has said she “mourned” the loss of her voice, …” ” Speaking in a preview clip for an upcoming interview, she said “I’m never going to Continues →
March 11th, 2018 TORONTO — A young Canadian woman has been left with the brain of a 70-year-old after suffering from Lyme disease for more than seven years without treatment because she says tests failed to give her a proper diagnosis. St. Catharines, Ont., woman Nikki Kent was bitten by a tick in 2013 at the age of 17, but Continues →
[CanLyme Note: The term post treatment Lyme disease syndrome is controversial and excludes those not effectively treated following the current treatment guidelines imposed upon physicians and patients.] “It has long been observed in clinical practice that a subset of patients with Lyme disease report a constellation of symptoms such as fatigue, cognitive difficulties, and musculoskeletal pain, which may last for Continues →
“As I was getting my body ready for my 1st pregnancy, my doctor at the time was running blood work, and I was told I had a low white blood cell count. This ended up being chronic, and I went through my first and second pregnancy not making anything much of it. I had seen an immunologist and hematologist, and Continues →
Abstract Changes in cellular metabolism have proven to be important factors in driving cell behavior. It has been shown that cellular metabolism of immune cells changes when exposed to or infected by several pathogens: while this is often an adaptation of the host cells to the infection, sometimes it represents a mechanism through which the pathogens evade immune activation. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu Continues →
Abstract The relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii and the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto each produces an abundant, orthologous, outer membrane protein, Vtp and OspC, respectively, when transmitted by tick bite. Gene inactivation studies have shown that both proteins are essential for spirochete infectivity when transmitted by their respective tick vectors. Therefore, we transformed a vtp-minus mutant of B. hermsii with ospC from B. burgdorferi and examined the behavior Continues →
By Mary Beth Pfeiffer ” Government and medicine have systematically failed to diagnose, treat or prevent a spreading plague of ticks. And they know it. “ For two decades, Lyme disease has had dueling identities. A burgeoning epidemic wrought by ticks. A raging controversy over why patients stay sick — and what to do for them. Now, however, the medical Continues →