All Posts Tagged With: "ehrlichia"

Linda’s comment:  WHEN I was first diagnosed, they diagnosed me with SLE, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia and a host of other autoimmune disease…I remember when a group member, whom I’m not close friends with, said, “no, you have lyme disease and co-infections”…I thought he was nuts….didn’t take long until I realized, after hours  and hours of research that HE WAS RIGHt….I even had carotid surgery, as a spirochete was wrapped around the carotid and choking me….the idiot doctors, argued with me that it was not Lyme…it wasn’t until 6 months later when I finally got my hands on the pathology report, with the pathologists requesting more testing using specific dyes, did I know….THANK GOD for my alternative docs who diagnosed me and alternative treatments began….

Excerpt:

A 
number of studies previously published, and new information presented 
here, suggest that EA infections may be an underlying, undiagnosed cause 
for these and other immune system diseases. This hypothesis, long 
overlooked, has never been subjected to adequate, rigorous study 
sufficient to prove or disprove its truth. If so, patients may be 
treated with antibiotics, and marrow transplant manipulations already 
used in treatment of diseases such as lupus and leukemia may become more 
effective.

Full article: http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/3/1/42

Excerpt:

Lizards are considered zooprophylactic for almost all Borrelia burgdorferi species, and act as dilution hosts in parts of North America. Whether European lizards significantly reduce the ability of B. burgdorferi to maintain itself in enzootic cycles, and consequently decrease the infection rate of Ixodes ricinus ticks for B. burgdorferi and other tick-borne pathogens in Western Europe is not clear.

Results

Ticks were collected from sand lizards, their habitat (heath) and from the adjacent forest. DNA of tick-borne pathogens was detected by PCR followed by reverse line blotting. Tick densities were measured at all four locations by blanket dragging. Nymphs and adult ticks collected from lizards had a significantly lower (1.4%) prevalence of B. burgdorferi sensu lato, compared to questing ticks in heath (24%) or forest (19%). The prevalence of Rickettsia helvetica was significantly higher in ticks from lizards (19%) than those from woodland (10%) whereas neither was significantly different from the prevalence in ticks from heather (15%). The prevalence of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia spp in heather (12%) and forest (14%) were comparable, but significantly lower in ticks from sand lizards (5.4%). The prevalence of Babesia spp in ticks varied between 0 and 5.3 %. Tick load of lizards ranged from 1 – 16. Tick densities were ~ 5-fold lower in the heather areas than in woodlands at all four sites.

Full article: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20052776&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
PMID: 20052776

Excerpt:

Ehrlichiosis, a tickborne illness transmitted by tick vectors Amblyomma
americanum and Ixodes scapularis, can be acquired in endemic areas. Clinical
manifestations range from asymptomatic to fulminant in nature. We report three
cases of ehrlichiosis in pediatric oncology patients, one of whom was a stem
cell transplant recipient. Early symptoms included fever, malaise, and vague
gastrointestinal symptoms. Laboratory abnormalities were initially attributed to
chemotherapy toxicity. Illness was severe in all three patients and one patient
died even after initiation of doxycycline.