Ticks that can transmit Lyme disease may be more prevalent in the UK than realised, say researchers who have found out how many dogs harbour them.

Experts have suspected for some time that the UK has a growing problem with these tiny pests – rates of the disease have been creeping up in recent years.

In 2010 there were 953 reported cases in England and Wales.

Now, after doing random checks on over 3,500 dogs, Bristol University experts suspects the problem is even bigger.

Of the 3,534 pet dogs inspected at veterinary clinics in the UK between March and October 2009, 14.9% had ticks.

Of these, 2.3% turned out to be infected.

The expected prevalence of infected ticks on dogs is 0.5% or 481 infected ticks per 100,000 dogs.

This suggests that the prevalence of this Borrelia infection in the UK tick population is considerably higher than previously thought, the researchers report in the journal Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

For the complete article:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16706942

The state is seeing a shocking increase in the number of deer ticks that can carry Lyme disease, prompting concerns that it will lead to more cases of the illness, insect experts said Wednesday.

A group that includes the state health and wildlife agencies is working to sort out what risks may be posed by last year’s spike in confirmed deer ticks, also known as black-legged ticks, and how best to spread the word and keep people safe. The experts believe the higher numbers are a sign of tick population growth, not simply the result of more active searching last year.

It’s unclear what spurred the increase, though researchers suspect one factor is favorable weather conditions that helped more of the tick population survive and thrive.

For the complete article:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46048358

And yes, I spoke with a Philadelphia doctor – one at a well-known university. She did not argue that sexual transmission is a possibility being that Lyme is much like syphilis in its spirochete form. She urged people to use protection and avoid cuts, legions, etc. in the genital area, which would make Lyme easier to penetrate the skin. She also consulted with her superior who said that he had heard of many couples claiming they are convinced they infected each other. But again, just like I said in the last story, he said that there were no studies done to verify this theory.

From the last article I wrote making a rather bold and provocative statement about Lyme disease being sexually transmitted, it seemed to peak a lot of interest – and controversy.

I received multiple comments on the article itself and e-mails from curious readers who are eager to know more information.

Much to my surprise, I also found an e-mail in my inbox from the Center for Disease Control from the telltale cdc.gov Web site.

It read as follows:

“Hi Cassie – I work in media relations for the CDC and was interested to see your recent story on Lyme disease. It refers to a ‘recent statement’ by CDC. Our Lyme disease experts were not aware of any recent …”

For the complete article:  http://www.examiner.com/relationships-in-philadelphia/lyme-disease-sexually-transmitted-part-ii

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (in which symptoms persist after antibiotic treatment) have spent decades fending off charges that their debilitating exhaustion and cognitive problems were simply imagined. But a study released last February provides tangible evidence that their conditions are real and distinct entities.

To read rhe study: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0017287

Our own CDC (Centers for Disease Control) acknowledges the underreporting of Lyme disease and the faulty testing available but offer no solutions. Testing is available through labs who have a more sensitive Lyme test, however, patients are forced to self pay for this testing. Why? Research being done by organizations specializing in Lyme disease is being ignored and our CDC should be asking why!

Excerpted from Metrowest Daily News ( Posted: 12/21/2011

As part of his ongoing effort to address the devastating impact of Lyme disease, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today announced that the annual spending bill that funds the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) calls for greater focus on the issue.

Wolf said report language accompanying the FY 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill approved in the House on December 15 and signed into law on December 17 encourages the CDC to:

• Expand its activities related to developing sensitive and more accurate diagnostic tools and tests for Lyme disease, including the evaluation of emerging diagnostic methods and improving utilization of diagnostic testing to account for the multiple clinical manifestations of acute and chronic Lyme disease;
• Expand its epidemiological research activities on tick-borne diseases to include an objective to determine the long-term course of illness for Lyme disease and to improve surveillance and reporting of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases in order to produce more accurate data;
• Evaluate the feasibility of developing a national reporting system in Lyme disease, including laboratory reporting; and
• Expand prevention of Lyme and tick-borne diseases through increased community-based public education and creating a physician education program that includes the full spectrum of scientific research on the diseases.

Wolf, who pushed for the language in the bill, has long been an advocate for victims of Lyme disease.  He has hosted forums in the 10^th District to help educate area residents about the dangers of Lyme and how to protect themselves from tick bites.  In addition, he encouraged Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to establish a Lyme disease task force to examine how Virginians can prevent and treat this illness.  The panel held public hearings and meetings throughout the Commonwealth and unanimously reported its findings in June.

For the complete article:  http://fairfaxnews.com/2011/12/wolf-pushes-cdc-on-lyme-disease/

While Vermont sportsmen spend November and December hunting deer, Lyndon State College biology professor Alan Giese is busy hunting deer ticks. He tromps through the woods armed with a white flannel sheet, waving it like a flag over brush so the fabric picks up specimens.

It may not sound scientific, but Giese is surveying five locations along the Connecticut River for deer ticks, potential carriers of Lyme disease, for what he hopes will become Vermont’s first systematic tick-population study. He wants to assign hard data to a trend that scientists and public health officials have observed for years: the spread of deer ticks — and Lyme disease — throughout Vermont.

Giese and a student research assistant started their work last spring. They had planned to be done by now, but, thanks to an unusually warm autumn, the research project and its blood-sucking subjects have stayed active longer than normal this year.

“We expected them to shut down in mid-November, and they haven’t,” Giese says, noting that fall is peak season for adult-stage deer ticks. Giese warns that ticks won’t go underground until night temperatures drop below freezing — and stay there. Meterologists are forecasting warm weather for much of the next week.

A decade ago, Lyme was virtually unheard of in Vermont. In 2000, the state Department of Health recorded just 40 cases, two-thirds of them likely contracted out of state. Yet by 2009, there were 408 confirmed and probable cases, with three-quarters of them determined to have originated in Vermont.

After several years of climbing Lyme rates, 2010 saw a slight dip, to 356 cases, and health officials cautiously hoped that better prevention was causing the disease rates to plateau.

Instead, 2011 is shaping up to be the worst year yet: As of last week, there were more than 500 confirmed and probable cases, according to Erica Berl, an epidemiologist with the Vermont Department of Health.

For the complete article:   http://www.7dvt.com/2011ticks-lyme-disease-vermont

I don’t really understand why the CDC has not recognized it, and nobody has ever given me an answer that satisfies me as to why this has not really been addressed or recognized. Everyone who suffers from Lyme disease is sort of on their own.

Singer/songwriter Daryl Hall is a soul survivor in every sense.  With John Oates he formed Hall & Oates, the most successful recording duo of all time, scoring a slew of No. 1 singles including “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List”  and “Sara Smile” across six consecutive multi-platinum albums in the 70s and 80s.  

More recently he has reinvented himself for the digital age by collaborating with a mix of legends and newer performers including Smokey Robinson, The Doors, Todd Rundgren, Train, Rob Thomas, Chromeo and Eric Hutchinson on his own WEBBY award-winning variety show Live From Daryl’s House.   But Hall’s greatest challenge has been met in his personal life.  On the heels of his latest release Laughing Down Crying, Hall spoke candidly to Healthline about his five-year battle with Lyme disease, how he successfully manages the enigmatic illness and standing strong and remaining youthful at 65.

Daryl, you were diagnosed with Lyme disease about five years ago, and you’re always willing to speak publicly about it.  Let’s start from the beginning.  How did you contract Lyme disease?

I got it the way everybody gets it.  I’ve lived in the country for many, many years – in the New York / Connecticut border; it’s a hotbed of deer and other wildlife animals.  I’d been bitten over the years so many times, and I think it finally reached a critical mass and I crashed and burned about five years ago.

For the complete interview:   http://www.healthline.com/health-feature/daryl-hall-lyme-disease

Dr. Rau , Chief Medical Director and Founder of the Paracelsus Clinic in Lustmuhle, Switzerland, has found that 40% of randomly selected people in the North East showed positve LD antibodies in their serological tests.  This raises many questions, and even more alarms:

• Can it be true that 40% of people in the NE have been bitten by infected ticks or is there some other vector  transmitting the disease?
• Why don’t all these people show  symptoms of LD?
• Why is LD so prevalent since the 1970’s?

When you listen to Dr Rau’s hypothesis to these questions, or study the successful Physicians or healing experts like Dr Horowitz or Maggie Meshkie, you generally come to similar conclusions.  Inidividuals with a healthy immune system are generally strong enough to combat the disease naturally.  It’s not until an infected individual’s  immune system weakens does LD progress to the 2^nd stage where symptoms begin  to show.

Of course, there are many factor’s that can weaken ones’s immune system.  Dr Rau believes it’s an individual’s inner milieu,  Dr Horowitz attributes the immune system’s efficacy to vitamin deficiency and metal poisoning, and Maggie Meshkie believes it’s a combination of both.  Maggie Meshkie believes one’s healing efficacy is better achieved through proper  blood circulation and detoxificaing herbal teas.

So then, why is LD a bigger proplem now?  Is it an environmental issue?  Dr Rau believes it is.  He suggests that the excessive levels of toxins in our water through pesticides, fertilizers, etc.  is harming the immune system’s of our wildlife and causing the wildlife to become ever increasing vectors.  Therefore, more biting insects are passing infections onto humans.

If we wait until the CDC buys into these theories and studies, millions more will have progressed from stage-1 LD to stage-3 (i.e. chronic L D).

After all, before obvious research on AIDS was accepted, the public was told it was only a GAY issue:

“Dr. Curran (CDC – 1981) said there was no apparent danger to non homosexuals from contagion. ‘The best evidence against contagion’, he said, ‘is that no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or in women’”

 - The New York Times

All the best,

Rob