The Global Search for Education: More Research – Ticks
“The next step is to determine if spirochetes that persist after antibiotic treatment are infectious.” — Dr. Monica Embers The take home for me from Katie Couric’s recent report on Lyme disease is that there are still too many unanswered questions. We need more research to understand Lyme, which affects 300,000 victims each year because we don’t have answers. We do know the term “chronic...
The Global Search for Education: Prevention — Ticks
“What we’ve found is that white-footed mice are the most important hosts in producing infected ticks.” — Rick Ostfeld Given the 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease a year in the US reported by the CDC, it is understandable that health organizations and local governments in this country are extremely anxious to develop a broader, more effective tick-borne diseases control strategy. As you will discover...
The Global Search for Education: Research – Ticks
Borrelia burgdorferi cultivated from the brains of patients suffering from chronic Lyme neuroborreliosis as seen by dark field microscopy. Given that according to the CDC, there are 300,000 individuals who are affected annually by Lyme disease in the US, it is astonishing that so little research money has been given to understanding Lyme and tick-borne illnesses in this country and internationally. Much like the syphilis debate...
The Global Search for Education: Norway – Ticks
“Our method is based upon live blood microscopy. Bacteria become visible by optical changes involving refraction index, swelling and spreading of cells which result in inflated structures well above the optical resolution capacities for a light microscope.” — Morten Laane and Ivar Mysterud Oslo University biologists Morten Laane and Ivar Mysterud have discovered a method to identify Borrelia bacteria in the...
The Global Search for Education: In Search of Solutions – Ticks
“We in the US can learn from the Chinese approach by holding our own multidisciplinary scientific conferences, where researchers, clinicians and specialists come together with government officials to tackle this global epidemic.” — Richard Horowitz To date in my “Ticks” series, we have learned from leading global experts that tick-borne illnesses (including Lyme disease) are possibly the most...
The Global Search for Education: Canada – Ticks
“Because songbirds widely disperse Lyme disease vector ticks transcontinentally, one does not have to frequent an endemic area to contract Lyme disease. People can contract it in their own backyards.” — John D. Scott Lyme borreliosis, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Bartonella, tularemia, and more recently, Borrelia miyamotoi (a distant relative of Lyme borreliosis) are...
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