Category Archives: Co-infections

Recent in: Co-infections

How to repel ticks with plants and landscaping

Landscaping tactics can be used to create a soft barrier to prevent ticks from entering your yard   Ticks are now present in many parts of the Maritimes, but communities are still learning how to live with them. A tick-proofing conference and workshop at Mount Allison University on Saturday gave researchers and experts a chance to share knowledge about ways to protect humans, Continues →

Lyme Disease Awareness Month

NO TICK IS A GOOD TICK, all species of ticks that will attach to humans and pets can carry various diseases. May, 2020 May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Canada. It gives us a chance to remind and educate others about the disease and how to avoid it. Ticks aren’t going to give us a break this year Continues →

Lyme Disease: Diversity of Borrelia Species in California and Mexico Detected Using a Novel Immunoblot Assay

Abstract Background: With more than 300,000 new cases reported each year in the United States of America (USA), Lyme disease is a major public health concern. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss) is considered the primary agent of Lyme disease in North America. However, multiple genetically diverse Borrelia species encompassing the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bbsl) complex and the Relapsing Fever Borrelia (RFB) group are capable of causing tickborne Continues →

Monitoring of Nesting Songbirds Detects Established Population of Blacklegged Ticks and Associated Lyme Disease Endemic Area in Canada

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 →

Transgenic functional complementation with a transmission -associated protein restores spirochete infectivity by tick bite

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 →

Canada loses a great Lyme disease defender, Paul Haefling author of Oh Canada: The “Politicks” of Lyme Disease

Obituary Haefling, Paul M.A. (English), LL.B – Passed away surrounded by his loving wife Catherine of 54 years and family members at the Wellington Terrace Nursing Home in Fergus on Monday, January 13, 2020. Paul Haefling, in his 79th year, was the husband of Catherine (Lipton) Haefling. Predeceased by his parents Jerome and Irene (Sullivan) Haefling and by his sister Continues →

Prevalence of Infection and Co-Infection and Presence of Rickettsial Endosymbionts in Ixodes Scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in Connecticut, USA.

Abstract Ixodes scapularis is currently known to transmit 7 pathogens responsible for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, tick-borne relapsing fever, ehrlichiosis, and Powassan encephalitis. Ixodes scapularis can also be colonized by endosymbiotic bacteria including those in the genus of Rickettsia. We screened 459 I. scapularis ticks submitted to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station Tick Testing Laboratory with the objectives to (1) examine differences in infection prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma Continues →

Chronic Lyme Disease: An Evidence-Based Definition by the ILADS Working Group

Abstract Objective: Chronic Lyme disease has been a poorly defined term and often dismissed as a fictitious entity. In this paper, the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) provides its evidence-based definition of chronic Lyme disease. Definition: ILADS defines chronic Lyme disease (CLD) as a multisystem illness with a wide range of symptoms and/or signs that are either continuously Continues →

Dr. Neil Spector presents new research on diagnostics and treatment

November 18th, 2019 Dr. Neil Spector, a world famous cancer researcher who contracted Lyme disease, gives an amazing presentation of potential new diagnostics and treatments for Lyme borreliosis and other infections. He is grateful for the support of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation. Watch full presentation

Disulfiram (Tetraethylthiuram Disulfide) in the Treatment of Lyme Disease and Babesiosis: Report of Experience in Three Cases

Abstract   Three patients, each of whom had required intensive open-ended antimicrobial therapy for control of the symptoms of chronic relapsing neurological Lyme disease and relapsing babesiosis, were able to discontinue treatment and remain clinically well for periods of observation of 6–23 months following the completion of a finite course of treatment solely with disulfiram. One patient relapsed at six Continues →

Most recent American Psychiatric Association guidelines… check for Lyme disease in evaluation.

[CanLyme Note: The wording indicates locally endemic infectious diseases so that would also include the known co-infections of Lyme and other vector-borne diseases.  We need to find out what the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) guidelines are relative to infectious diseases.  CanLyme has asked the CPA for their position on this. Limiting their investigation to the current anti-body testing model may miss Continues →

FORMER MISS CANADA LOSES ALL WHILE FIGHTING CONTROVERSIAL DISEASE

November 28th, 2019 Shannon Smadella once represented Canada on the world’s stage and now she is the one who needs help – and she needs it – yesterday Vancouver, BC: Shannon was Miss Canada and represented this country with pride, volunteering thousands of un-paid hours for charity and humanitarian work. But when Shannon needed help, Canada’s medical system wasn’t there Continues →

Scotland, UK: Killer tick-borne parasite imitating malaria-like diseases is discovered by scientists in the UK

November 2019 by Shreyas Tanna Medical Herald A tick-borne parasite which causes a deadly malaria-like illness is spreading in the UK. Deadly malaria-like diseases are being spread in the UK by a tick-borne parasite. Babesia venatorum, the name of the discovered parasite, lives in sheep in the Scottish Highlands, according to researchers. People visiting the region have been warned by Continues →