TASK
TASK: a new dark era for tick-borne illness
Since 2014 the Lyme Disease Association has proclaimed MAY as Lyme Awareness Month. In Canada March has been designated at Tick Awareness Month. We now, with the number of tick species carrying life altering and now deadly tick-borne disease, have need to expand our efforts to educate and prepare people to avoid infections.
NOW… we need to focus, NOT on the Disease, but the CAUSE: TICKS!
APRIL thru OCTOBER MUST BECOME - 'TICK AWARENESS SEASON'
As we graduate and elevate our AWARENESS needs, we find the need for a new level in the battle with tick-borne illness. This requires a new approach.
TASK
Tick Awareness Season Knowledge
Why the sudden call for a change in awareness direction? Simple, we now have too many important infections -thus diseases- to consider to NOT focus on
Tick AWARENESS
Tick KNOWLEDGE
Tick TIME
Tick PREVENTION
Powassan virus: reason for concern?
The Powassan virus (POWV... but referred to as POW) first identified in 1958, was recognized in the mid-1990s as being transmitted by the black-legged deer tick; the same vector for Lyme disease. Now, the deer tick was a prime vector for not one, but two hideous tick-transmitted diseases. And the new one, the Powassan virus, was found to be worse than Lyme.
Over the past 10 years, the CDC has officially reported roughly 75 cases of Powassan virus. The hot-spots of Powassan virus, in the United States, are currently, the Great Lakes and Northeast regions.
Two things about the Powassan virus that cause its presence to worthy of sounding an alarm are :
1) 10% of people infected by Powassan virus - died;
2) occurrence of Powassan virus in sampled populations of ticks; around 7%;
LYME as a FATAL DISEASE
The CDC had to revise their earlier annual cases of Lyme - set at 30,000 - to a staggering 329,000 cases reported, as of 2015. And it's safe to say, this figure misses many that were not reported and continues to be serious problem, increasing each year.
Yet, as devastating as Lyme disease is, to those unfortunate enough to not have early antibiotic control eliminate the infection, Lyme itself is very rarely a direct, 'cause of death.
The vast majority of deaths, within the population of those suffering Lyme disease, are due to complications brought on by the prolonged system disintegration while suffering from Lyme disease.
More people die by suicide, after suffering prolonged depression and the deep levels of anxiety due to the experience of trying to live with Lyme disease and it's manifestations.
REFERENCE
CDC Revises annual Lyme case reports - https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/52/3/364/307928
Suicide: Lyme disease's less understood outcome, a new study says
https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/health/lyme-disease/2017/07/19/lyme-disease-suicide-bransfield-study/483959001/
POWASSAN VIRUS IS DEADLY
POW (Powassan disease) is getting attention because IT KILLS. There is a 10% fatality rate. Death can happen quickly, in those who are infected with POW.
Lyme disease normally requires 24-hours for an infection to take place. With POW, infection takes place in as little as 15 minutes after attachment.
Population samples of deer-ticks have revealed POW virus present in from 1% to 7%. And the findings leave the scientists with no clear sign of how many POW infected ticks are likely to be in a population.
With deer-tick populations exploding over the last decade, and with no reduction in sight; 2017 was a record year for tick populations and 2018 is set on the same path; the potential for locally high occurrences in tick populations, is unsettling at best.
This information now segues into the next level of concern: POW is not just limited to 'deer-ticks'. POW has been found present - not just as POWV, but as what researchers are calling Deer Tick Virus (DTV), a unique and more prevailent form of POW, as well as POWV (Powassan Virus).
Four (4) species of ticks NOW make the TASK list of ticks.
IXODES
Ixodes scapularis -
black-legged deer tick: lineage 2 POW virus ("deer tick virus");
Ixodes marxi -
squirrel tick
Ixodes cookei -
woodchuck tick; E. Rockies into NE and Canada): lineage 1 POW virus;
Ixodes spinipalpis -
mouse tick - can transmit the POW virus;
DERMACEMTOR
Dermacentor andersoni - Rocky Mountain wood tick; can transmit the POW virus
Dermacentor variabilis - The American Dog Tick; host to a wide array of tick-borne disease, 'other than' Lyme
[
NOTE: though D.variabilis may be exposed to the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria causitive agent of Lyme, it remains an incompetent vector for transmission.] disease; including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia (Francesella tularensis), Anaplasma phagocytophilum, causative agent for HGE (human granulocytic ehrlichiosis),and Ehrlichia chaffeensis, causative agent of HME (human moncytic ehrlichiosis); as well tick paralysis, similar to Guillain-Barre syndrome.
[photos of these ticks]
Since 2014 the Lyme Disease Association has proclaimed MAY as 'Lyme Awareness Month'. However, now we need to focus, NOT on the Disease, but the CAUSE: TICKS!
APRIL-OCTOBER MUST BECOME - 'TICK AWARENESS SEASON'
So now we graduate and elevate our AWARENESS needs. It NOW becomes a need for: TASK - Tick Awareness Season Knowledge
REFERENCES
Powassan Virus - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powassan_virus
New Tick-borne Disease - http://healthdiary247.com/ticks-now-carry-a-virus-more-deadly-than-lyme-disease-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
Experts warn of increases in tick-borne Powassan virus
Powassan Virus Ticks - http://time.com/4767290/powassan-virus-ticks/
Lyme Disease Facts and Statistics - http://time.com/4767290/powassan-virus-ticks/
A Review of Death Certificates Listing Lyme Disease as a Cause of Death in the United States - https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/52/3/364/307928
Suicide: Lyme disease's less understood outcome, a new study says - https://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/health/lyme-disease/2017/07/19/lyme-disease-suicide-bransfield-study/483959001/
Ticks of Colorado -
https://coloradoticks.org/the-ticks/other-colorado-ticks/
Ticks found in Maine -
http://www.ticksinmaine.com/ticks/other-ticks
POWASSAN DISEASE
Lyme Disease Association, Inc. - Powassan (POW)
https://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/about-lyme/other-tick-borne-diseases/powassan-encephalitis
Ticks that carry Powassan Virus
Ixodes cookei - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_cookei
Ixodes scapularis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_scapularis
Ixodes marxi - http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/wisconsin-ticks/other-ticks/
Ixodes spinipalpus ... Detection of Borrelia Genomospecies 2 in Ixodes spinipalpis Ticks Collected from a Rabbit in Canada (PDF) - http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.1645/16-127
