Entries tagged with “Ehrlichiosis Lyme Tularemia Ticks” from Bugs in the News

Unless you've been living under a rock like a terrestrial isopod you've probably heard about Lyme disease and deer ticks. We are all hyper-focused on the black-legged deer tick, but there are other ticks that bite humans AND trasmit disease. There are also a few other serious, potentially fatal disease agents transmitted by ticks as well that your doctor let alone the general public probably don't think or know about when a tick comes to bite.

Ehrlichia (pronounced err-lick-ee-uh) is a bacteria-like organism that was only described as causing disease in the US as late as 1987. The organism is part of the family Rickettsiaceae (rick-etts-ee-a-cee-ee), and the species of human concern in the US are R. chaffeensis and R. ewingii. Horses, sheep, cattle and dogs have there own species, too. Back in 1990 a soldier in Fort Chaffee Arkansas became very ill. When everything else seemed to check out a blood screening turned up the invading organisms, the species was named, and a new disease called Human Monocytic Ehrlichiosis was now added to the list of tick-borne diseases.

Anaplasma (easy enough to say) is a relative of Ehrlichia and is the causative agent of Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis. Yea, I know - sometimes scientists come up with some boring names. Sometimes, they do. One of my favorite named diseases is Crimean Congo Hemmorhagic Fever. Not in the US but a friggin cool name.

Babesia (Bah-bee-zee-uh) is trasmitted by the black-legged deer tick and can be fatal if left untreated. If you have Lyme disease there is a chance you have babesiosis as well. Good news is that its treated under the same spectrum of antibiotics - so as long as you get (AND TAKE ALL OF) your pills, you're likely to be okay.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever - another cool name but a really bad disease. It's called spotted fever because infected people notice spots - called a petichial rash - on the palms of their hands, soles of feet, eyes, and other places. So what? Well, it's not the rash that's the problem. It's the fact that the rash is tiny black-and-blues caused when the bacteria (Rickettsia rickettsii) attack and destroy the peripheral blood vessels, like chopping the end off of a hose. Still don't think it's a big deal? Well imagine that happening in nearly all your capillaries not under your skin, but the ones feeding your brain, heart, liver, kidneys, and all your vital organs. Yes, it's bad, but again treatable with those ATBs.

The last one for now - but certainly not the last tick-borne disease is one called Tularemia or "Rabbit Fever". This was once called "rabbit skinner's disease" since said persons would skin rabbits infected with this bacteria and become infected through tiny lacerations in their skin. Now, those of us not lucky enough to have skinned an infected rabbit still have a chance to get the disease - from a tick. The causative agent Francisella tularensis can also cause disease when inhaled, and has the US Government worried as it can be used as a biological warfare weapon. If Iran stops enriching plutonium and starts raising rabbits - start to worry. Eastern Massachusetts (Cape Cod, and especially Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket) are riddled with reported cases of the tularemia, probably because it's hard to walk around there without seeing one of those wascally wabbits (sorry). Islands are isolated, rabbit populations go unchecked, ticks are hungry and all that blood from vacationers is just too much to not have an outbreak of something. Because it's so infective to wealthy vacationers and Iran may make a bacterial WOMD (okay now I'm now invoking Poe's Law here) there has been quite a bit of attention paid to this bug. Carly Simon may not have time for the pain (or fever) caused by the tularemia so if you're back from an island vacation and have a fever, let your doctor know.