LymeNotes​

100 percent of the more than $1 million raised at the sixth annual LymeAid dinner and concert event in Portola Valley, California, will go directly to fund research and education projects for Lyme disease. Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the United States, brought together scientists, philanthropists, celebrities and patients for the event aimed at raising funds to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure. Multiple research

Bay Area Lyme Foundation's Emerging Leader Awards are designed to encourage new Lyme disease research projects. Genomics, immunotherapy and unraveling the stealth attributes of Lyme disease were the focus of the 2018 Emerging Leader Award projects. Bay Area Lyme Foundation awarded grants to four inspired scientists who have developed promising diagnostics or therapies for Lyme disease. George Church, Ph.D., and Ting Wu, Ph.D. were each awarded a $250,000 grant to launch the G

A solution may already be out there. So why haven't most of us heard of it? The version made for humans was shelved by the manufacturer three years after it was introduced for fear of a link to arthritis. “The irony, is that the pet vaccine is exactly the same vaccine, it is the same anti-OspA vaccine strategy with the same protein and hundreds of millions of doses have been given to dogs with no safety issues.” ~ Sam Telford | One of two researchers who developed an FDA-appr

First discovered in the U.S. in 1925, anaplasmosis has long been considered a disease in the Southeast. Recent studies, however, show the disease firmly rooted in Midwestern and Western states, too. Veterinarians say ticks are the primary vectors for biological transmission because they serve as amplifiers of the disease. The second mode of transmission is mechanical, mostly involving horse, stable and deer flies. Additionally, needles play a role in mechanical transmission.

Reminiscent of “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others” from Sesame Street, the CDC apologizes for hiding ticks in plain sight on a poppy seed muffin. The awareness campaign certainly gives a new spin to the Take a Bite Out of Lyme Disease Challenge. Read all about it in the linked USA Today article... http://bit.ly/TwitterTicked

Last week's CDC report barely says, or omits entirely, what matters most... The reasons for dramatic increases in the rates of infectious diseases spread by ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes — a.k.a. “vector-borne diseases.” Emerging infections are the result of changes in exposure, and those in turn result when people and pathogens find themselves together in new places, or when the environmental conditions of previously populated places change, making them hospitable to new agen

Despite their name, deer ticks feed on—and infect—many wild critters, particularly mice. Deer do not carry Lyme, but they are tick farms that keep tick populations high. The native and ubiquitous white-footed mouse is considered the primary vector of Lyme. Each mouse can have between 25 and 100 ticks on it at any time. If you trap or poison mice in your house or yard, all those ticks are going to drop off in search of another host. Hypothetically, giving mice new beds may be

San Francisco NPR radio station KQED’s Forum interview program examines what's causing the surge of tick-borne diseases and how Lyme Disease in particular is affecting Northern California. Host Michael Krasny presents an excellent panel discussion with guests: Mary Beth Pfeiffer, investigative journalist and author of ‘Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change’ Raphael Stricker M.D., physician and past president, International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) Andre

‘This has become the biggest cause of new onset food allergy and anaphylaxis in adults throughout the South and largely in the East as well.’ ~ UNC Chapel Hill researcher Dr. Scott Commins http://bit.ly/TicksAndRedMeatAllergies

New report from the CDC’s National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System shows a long-term increase in cases of vector-borne diseases brought on by bites from mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. More than 80 percent of vector-control organizations across the United States lack the capacity to prevent and control these fast-spreading, demanding illnesses. http://bit.ly/VBISurge FILE PHOTO - A sign is displayed as San Diego County officials hand spray a two block area to help preve