Ann-Ohio
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 44364
posted
First, this study was done by researchers in dermatology and pathology at Yale.
I was not able to get to the whole article, but from what I can figure out the study was meant to identify the spirochetes inside the tick, rather than in the skin of the host.
Somehow, it worked better if the tick was encased in paraffin (what your grandma used to seal jelly jars) .
And if the direct immunofluorescent testing method (DIF) was used, results showing the infection in the tick were faster than other methods. This could be a big help in early treatment for Lyme disease.
Those guys at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station were a good backup to consult, as they have been at tick identification and testing for many years.
Interesting method, maybe less costly than polymerase chain reaction tests…. and quicker… Maybe it could be a big help in testing ticks found in field studies, too.
Detection of Borrelia in Ixodes Scapularis ticks by silver stain, immunohistochemical and direct immunofluorescent methods Galan A, Kupernik P, Cowper SE. Journal of Cutaneous Pathology, online first 2018 Mar 22.
Lyme disease (LD) is one of the most common tick‐borne diseases caused by several Borrelia species of spirochetes.
Ixodes scapularis is responsible for the transmission of LD in the northeastern United States.
The rate of infection varies with the duration of tick attachment to the host, however this information may be unknown.
In skin biopsies it is often difficult to identify spirochetes. Testing of ticks is not routinely performed. Treatment is established by clinical presentation.
Objective
To test paraffin‐embedded I. scapularis ticks for Borrelia by different methods.
Materials/Methods
We examined twenty paraffin‐embedded ticks by silver stain, immunohistochemical (IHC) and direct immunofluorescent (DIF) methods
and compared the percentage of positivity with DIF results from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
Results
The results were similar by DIF, which proved to be the most sensitive method, followed by the silver stain and IHC.
Conclusion
We found that the identification of spirochetes in paraffin‐embedded ticks was less difficult than in tissue with a comparable turnaround time to that of a routine biopsy.
Timely identification of Borrelia in ticks may influence the clinical management of the patients.
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