posted
I have been reading about the many tick-borne viruses. Perhaps some of us are infected with these viruses as well as Borrellia, which complicates treatment further. There are flavivirus, POW, and DTV, as well as West Nile Virus that can all be transmitted by ticks.
Does anyone have knowledge of LLMDs that are testing for these viruses for their Lyme patient population? What about the use of antivirals?
Just thinking out loud I guess. I can't sleep tonight so I thought a little boring research might help me to tire.
-------------------- **Eat Chocolate** Posts: 942 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
It is interesting that you are raising this issue. I have also been wondering the same thing. California Lyme has posted a number of articles on another forum especially dealing with flaviviruses. The Russians have been doing this research. They have found them in same ticks as transmit lyme, etc. (This is also known in U.S.). Plus, the Russians say that flaviviruses can cause ALS-like symptoms. And just to stir the pot a little more, most of the abx used to treat lyme STIMULATE the viruses! How nasty is this!
So, what I think might be happening is that the lymies with ALS symptoms that do not respond to lyme treatment might instead be caused by such a virus.
I have not heard of any lyme docs testing for flaviviruses or specifically treating them, although have heard of a few folks who thought anti-viral meds helped them. The thing about anti-virals is that they don't seem to work as well as abx do on bacteria, and they are also specific to viruses. So, how do we know which, if any, anti-virals will work? Or do we do like the Russians and use herbals which inhibit the virus, at least in vitro? And should we be doing this without knowing if we have the virus? Herbals and some abx can have interactions.
Several weeks ago I sent Igenex an email asking if they have thought about the subject or creating such a test, and included an abstract that documented the virus in lyme carrying ticks. Have gotten no reply yet.
Somewhere I already posted the abstract about this virus in ticks in the U.S., but will try to find it again for this thread. You might also check california lyme's posts on lymenet since she did several here on the subject.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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There have also been discussions about anti-virals, can find them with search word virus.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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Hubby only took ribavirin for a short time as it was very expensive and couldn't really tell any difference. He continues to take Amantadine although not really sure it helps either. Have not had Borna virus retested for a year or two -- on the list of things I would like to do if I had the money.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Here is one of the abstracts I mentioned above, dealing with a powassan-like virus they are calling deer tick virus. Not sure how this relates to the bornavirus, think this is a different animal entirely, will have to go on a hunt now. Anyway, this flavivirus is definitely in deer ticks, so presumably some of us have gotten it.
A Focus of Deer Tick Virus Transmission in the Northcentral United States
Gregory D. Ebel, Ivo Foppa, Andrew Spielman, and Sam R. Telford, III Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
We screened salivary glands from adult deer ticks collected near Spooner and Hayward, Wisconsin, to determine whether deer tick virus, a recently described flavivirus, occurs with other tickborne agents in the upper Midwest. Intraacinar inclusions sug- gestive of replicating virus were detected in 4 (4.6%) of 87 ticks. The virus was isolated by suckling-mouse inoculation.
Pathogens transmitted by deer ticks (Ixodes dammini) affect the health of residents in areas of the northcentral United States. The diversity of infecting agents, the intensity of their transmission, and the concomitant risk for human infection are well documented and approach levels found in the Northeast (1-4). In northwestern Wisconsin, the risk to health from these ticks may increase as human recreational and industrial activities more frequently intersect with areas of enzootic transmission. In addition to the agents of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi), human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia microti), and human babesiosis (Babesia microti), deer ticks in these foci might be infected with deer-tick virus (DTV), a recently described Powassan (POW)-like agent of the genus Flavivirus (5), and might pose an additional threat to human health in this region.
posted
Well, keep asking questions and it sends me on a search, ending up learning something in spite of myself.
Guess you didn't mean to suggest, Bea, that there was any connection between Powassen/deer tick virus and bornavirus. You were probably just responding to the question of treating a virus with anti-virals.
I found out that although both of these are single stranded RNA viruses, they are in different groups and families. Anyone interested in virus taxonomy can find lots of good info at this website:
What we still don't know is whether anyone is testing or treating for the deer tick virus, in the U.S. anyway.
Here is a website that discusses the uses of anti-virals. I get the impression that even if we have acquired the deer tick virus along with lyme, etc. there might not be any anti-viral to treat it.
posted
Here is a report of someone being treated for powassen virus infection, so apparently there is a treatment. The big question in my mind is whether this virus can hide out and only manifest itself long after the initial infection was acquired.
A boy from New York traveling in Nova Scotia had olfactory hallucinations and other signs of temporal lobe involvement, leading to a diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis. The patient was treated with vidarabine and made a complete recovery. However, hemagglutination inhibition, complement fixation, and neutralization tests identified Powassan virus (POW) as the pathogen. Shortly before his trip to Nova Scotia, the patient had traveled in an area where POW encephalitis had occurred in humans (the eastern part of the state of New York), and he also came in contact with a known reservoir of POW infection (a groundhog) at home.
Publication Types:
* Case Reports
PMID: 6297420 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Does anyone know if any LLMDs or researchers are testing for these tick-borne viruses? VERY curious.
-------------------- **Eat Chocolate** Posts: 942 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2005
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MADDOG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 18
posted
Hi,I had improvement using elderberry flower tea.
It is an antiviral.
MADDOG
Posts: 4084 | From Ohio | Registered: Oct 2000
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caat
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2321
posted
I have a feeling the only people who test for those viruses are the CDC and people who specilize in viruses. And even they might send it to the CDC.
Posts: 1436 | From Humboldt county ca usa | Registered: Mar 2002
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