PHARMA & HEALTHCARE 6/08/2015 @ 7:54PM 4,493 views New Tickborne Infection, More Common Than Once Believed, Circulating In Northeastern U.S. Comment Now Follow Comments
While most of us are concerned about Lyme disease, a tickborne illness circulating during the spring and summertime in the Northeastern U.S, there is another, potentially more serious infection to be aware of as well.
The causative organism behind Lyme disease, the spirochete Borriela burgdorferi, is not alone.
An emerging tickborne infection in the Northeastern U.S. leading to more pronounced symptoms and severity of illness may be more common than previously thought, according to a recent case series published online today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD) was first reported in the Northeastern US in 2013. It has been seen in high numbers among deer ticks, and because of this, it is clear that human exposure has been occurring. But the symptoms associated with BMD are nonspecific, making it difficult to distinguish it from other tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, and Babesiosis. . . .
Borrelia miyamotoi Disease in the Northeastern United States: A Case Series
Philip J. Molloy, MD; Sam R. Telford III, ScD; Hanumara Ram Chowdri, MD; Timothy J. Lepore, MD; Joseph L. Gugliotta, MD; Karen E. Weeks, BS; Mary Ellen Hewins, BS; Heidi K. Goethert, ScD; and Victor P. Berardi Annals of Internal Medicine, Published online 9 June 2015.
Background: The first recognized cases of Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD) in North America were reported in the northeastern United States in 2013.
Objective: To further describe the clinical spectrum and laboratory findings for BMD.
Design: Case series.
Setting: Patients presenting to primary care offices, emergency departments, or urgent care clinics in 2013 and 2014.
Participants: Acutely febrile patients from the northeastern United States in whom the treating health care providers suspected and ordered testing for tick-transmitted infections.
Measurements: Whole blood polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing was performed for the presence of specific DNA sequences of common tickborne infections (including BMD). Serologic testing for B. miyamotoi was performed using a recombinant glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase (rGlpQ) protein. Clinical records were analyzed to identify the major features of acute disease.
Results: Among 11 515 patients tested, 97 BMD cases were identified by PCR. Most of the 51 case patients on whom clinical histories were reviewed presented with high fever, chills, marked headache, and myalgia or arthralgia. Twenty-four percent were hospitalized. Elevated liver enzyme levels, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia were common. At presentation, 16% of patients with BMD were seropositive for IgG and/or IgM antibody to B. miyamotoi rGlpQ. Most (78%) had seropositive convalescent specimens. Symptoms resolved after treatment with doxycycline, and no chronic sequelae or symptoms were observed.
Limitation: Findings were based on specimens submitted for testing to a reference laboratory, and medical records of only 51 of the 97 case patients with BMD were reviewed.
Conclusion: Patients with BMD presented with nonspecific symptoms, including fever, headache, rigors, myalgia, and arthralgia. Laboratory confirmation of BMD was possible by PCR on blood from acutely symptomatic patients who were seronegative at presentation. Borrelia miyamotoi may be an emerging tickborne infection in the northeastern United States.
Borrelia miyamotoi disease (BMD), a tick-borne infection that can cause more severe symptoms than Lyme disease, was first reported in the northeastern United States in 2013 but is becoming more common and should be considered in all areas where deer tick–transmitted infections are endemic, according to a case-series published online June 9 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers suggest that BMD might be almost as common as human anaplasmosis among tick-exposed patients who present with fevers in the endemic areas, and they recommend that it be included in routine differential diagnosis protocols.
The timing of BMD peak incidence suggests that, unlike the transmission of Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi, the new infection might be transmitted by unfed larval ticks, who acquire it by transovarial transmission from the infected female tick. This has immediate clinical and public health implications.
-------------------- KarlaL Posts: 694 | From New Lebanon, NY | Registered: Dec 2010
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Catgirl
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Thank you for posting Karla!
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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The tiny larval tick has never been considered a threat to humans. Experts had long believed that an adult female tick could not pass on any infections to the eggs and larvae. As a result, ticks in the larva stage were thought to be free from carrying diseases and therefore, harmless. But that may not necessarily be the case, according to a case series by Philip Molloy, MD and colleagues, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. [1] . . .
-------------------- KarlaL Posts: 694 | From New Lebanon, NY | Registered: Dec 2010
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TNT
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If current treatment is doxycycline, what is used for treating pediatric patients?
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