No Lyme Or Ticks In Alabama
Some try to say there is no
Lyme disease or ticks in Alabama.
Not so!
J Wildl Dis. 1992 Jul;28(3):449-52.
Borrelia sp. in ticks recovered from white-tailed deer in Alabama.
Luckhart S1, Mullen GR, Durden LA, Wright JC.
1Department of Entomology, Auburn University, Alabama 36949.
Abstract
Six hundred sixty-five hunter-killed white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from 18 counties in Alabama (USA) were examined for ticks. Most of the collections were made at state-operated wildlife management areas.
Four species of ticks (n = 4,527) were recovered: the lone star tick Amblyomma americanum (n = 482); the Gulf Coast tick A. maculatum (n = 11); the winter tick Dermacentor albipictus (n = 1,242); and the black-legged tick Ixodes scapularis (n = 2,792).
Fifty-six percent of the ticks (n = 2,555) were examined for Borrelia sp. spirochetes using an immunofluorescent, polyclonal antibody assay. Spirochetes were detected in I. scapularis (five females, seven males) from Barbour, Butler, Coosa, and Lee counties and A. americanum (four males, four nymphs) from Hale, Lee, and Wilcox counties.
Area-specific prevalences in ticks were as high as 3.3% for I. scapularis and 3.8% for A. americanum.
PMID:
1512879
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1512879
J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Jun;30(6):1449-52.
Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in the eastern and southern United States.
Magnarelli LA1, Oliver JH Jr, Hutcheson HJ, Boone JL, Anderson JF.
1Department of Entomology, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven 06504.
Abstract
Serologic studies were conducted to determine whether white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) contained serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays detected antibodies to this spirochete in 35.7 and 27.3% of 56 P. leucopus and 535 P. gossypinus serum samples, respectively, collected in Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Antibody titers ranged from 1:160 to greater than or equal to 1:40,960. On the basis of adsorption tests, the antibodies detected appeared to be specific to Borrelia spirochetes. Seropositive rodents in the eastern and southern United States, areas where human cases of Lyme borreliosis have been reported, indicate a widespread geographic distribution of B. burgdorferi or a closely related spirochete.
PMID:
1624561
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID:
PMC265308
Link Here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1624561
Neurosurgery. 1992 May;30(5):769-73.
Lyme neuroborreliosis manifesting as an intracranial mass lesion.
Murray R1, Morawetz R, Kepes J, el Gammal T, LeDoux M.
1Department of Surgery, University of Alabama, School of Medicine, Birmingham.
Abstract
Lyme neuroborreliosis is one of the chronic manifestations of Lyme disease and is caused by the neurotropic spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Two of the three stages of Lyme disease potentially involve the central nervous system: a second stage that may manifest as meningitis, cranial neuritis, or radiculoneuritis; and a third stage, or chronic neuroborreliosis, with parenchymal involvement. The tertiary stage may mimic many conditions, including multiple sclerosis, polyneuropathy, viral encephalitis, brain tumor, vasculitis, encephalopathy, psychiatric illness, and myelopathy. We report a 10-year-old child with signs, symptoms, and radiological manifestations of intracranial mass lesions, without previously recognized manifestations of Lyme disease. This proved to be Lymeneuroborreliosis, documented by histological and serological examination, which responded well to antibiotic therapy. The need to establish a tissue diagnosis of intracranial mass lesions is emphasized, and the utility of a computed tomographic-guided stereotactic system for this purpose is discussed.
PMID:
1584393
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Link Here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1584393
J Wildl Dis. 1991 Oct;27(4):606-14.
Tick infestations of white-tailed deer in Alabama.
Durden LA1, Luckhart S, Mullen GR, Smith S.
1Department of Entomology, Auburn University, Alabama 36849.
Abstract
Four species of ticks were collected from 537 white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), examined during the hunting seasons (November to January) of 1988-89 and 1989-90 at selected locations in Alabama (USA). Ixodes scapularis was the most common tick recovered (2,060 specimens) and infested 54% of the deer. Dermacentor albipictus was the second most frequent tick (1,253 specimens) and infested 15% of the deer. Amblyomma americanum was the third most frequent tick (315 specimens) and infested 24% of the deer; this was the only species of tick collected from deer at all sampling locations. Amblyomma maculatum was an infrequent parasite (five specimens) and infested only 1% of the deer; this tick species was only recorded during the 1989-90 season. Year-to-year and geographical differences in tick infestation parameters were noted. The data are compared with those reported for previous surveys of ticks infesting white-tailed deer in Alabama and adjacent states.
PMID:
1758026
[PubMed - indexed f
Link Here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1758026
J Med Entomol. 1991 Sep;28(5):652-7.
Etiologic agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, detected in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) collected at a focus in Alabama.
Luckhart S1, Mullen GR, Wright JC.
1Department of Entomology, Auburn University, Alabama 36849-5413.
Abstract
The study was conducted at sites of known transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi in east central Alabama. The objectives were to determine species of ticks present at these sites, their host associations, and species of ticks and small mammals naturally infected with B. burgdorferi. A total of 451 hosts were examined for ticks, including cotton mice, Peromyscus gossypinus (Le Conte); cotton rats, Sigmodon hispidus Say & Ord; southern short-tailed shrews, Blarina carolinensis (Bachman); house mice, Mus musculus L.; golden mice, Ochrotomys nuttalli (Harlan); and white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann). Ticks were examined for B. burgdorferi using indirect and direct fluorescent antibody assays. Ear biopsy samples from rodents were cultured in modified Kelly's medium in attempts to isolate B. burgdorferi. A total of 859 Amblyomma americanum L., Dermacentor albipictus (Packard), D. variabilis (Say), Ixodes scapularis Say, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) were recovered from hosts and by dragging. A. americanum and I. scapularis accounted for 53.4% of all ticks collected. Nearly half of all ticks collected were examined for the agent. Spirochetes were detected in four nymphal and two adult A. americanum recovered from white-tailed deer and three larval I. scapularis recovered from cotton mice. No spirochetes were cultured from field-caught rodents.
PMID:
1941933
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Free full text
Link Here- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1941933
Authors: Magnarelli LA. Oliver JH Jr. Hutcheson HJ. Boone JL. Anderson JF.
Title: Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in the eastern and southern United States.
Source: Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 30(6):1449-52, 1992 Jun.
Abstract: Serologic studies were conducted to determine whether white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and cotton mice (Peromyscus gossypinus) contained serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays detected antibodies to this spirochete in 35.7 and 27.3% of 56 P. leucopus and 535 P. gossypinus serum samples, respectively, collected in Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Antibody titers ranged from 1:160 to greater than or equal to 1:40,960. On the basis of adsorption tests, the antibodies detected appeared to be specific to Borrelia spirochetes. Seropositive rodents in the eastern and southern United States, areas where human cases of Lyme borreliosis have been reported, indicate a widespread geographic distribution of B. burgdorferi or a closely related spirochete.
Link Here- http://juliannesc.tripod.com/abstract.html
Authors: Kelley MD.
Institution: University of Alabama School of Medicine, Tuscaloosa Program, AL.
Title: Possible Lyme meningitis.
Source: Alabama Medicine. 59(7):19-20, 1990 Jan.
Abstract: Lyme disease was first recognized in 1975 because of a cluster of patients with arthritis in the vicinity of Lyme, Connecticut. Subsequently the arthritis was linked with erythema chronicum migrans (88%), cardiac (8%), and nervous system diseases (11%). By 1983, the etiology of the disease had been confirmed as an infection caused by a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted to man by the bite of a tick, Ixodes dammini. Then it became apparent that this was the same disease reported as far back as the 1920's, known in Europe as tick-borne meningeal polyneuritis, lymphocytic meningoradiculitis, or Bannwarth's syndrome. The usual presentation includes exposure to ticks or tick-infested areas of the Northeast, the characteristic rash, and then the neurological abnormalities, then the arthritis. This case is presented to illustrate the possible presence of the disease with no history of tick exposure, no travel to areas usually considered endemic and no characteristic rash.
Link Here- http://juliannesc.tripod.com/abstract.html
Authors: Woernle CH.
Title: Surveillance for Lyme disease in Alabama.
Source: Alabama Medicine. 58(10):19-20, 1989 Apr.
Abstract: To estimate the frequency of occurrence of Lyme disease in Alabama, in September 1988 the Department of Public Health requested physicians and laboratories to begin voluntary reporting of cases of Lyme disease. Thirteen cases, 5 confirmed, 1 probable, 4 presumptive and 3 possible, were reported for the years 1986-1988. Counties in which tick exposure likely occurred included Calhoun, Cleburne, Mobile, Monroe, Shelby, Talladega and Tallapoosa. Lyme disease occurs in Alabama but appears to be uncommon.
Link Here- http://juliannesc.tripod.com/abstract.html
Authors: Mullen GR. Piesman J.
Title: Serologically substantiated case of Lyme disease and potential tick vectors in Alabama.
Source: Alabama Journal of Medical Sciences. 24(3):306-7, 1987 Jul.
Link Here- http://juliannesc.tripod.com/abstract.html
Authors: Felz MW, Chandler FW Jr, Oliver JH Jr, Rahn DW, Schriefer ME.
Title: Solitary erythema migrans in Georgia and South Carolina.
Source: Archives of Dermatology. 135(11):1317-26, 1999 Nov.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the incidence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in humans with erythema migrans (EM) in 2 southeastern states. DESIGN: Prospective case series. SETTING: Family medicine practice at academic center. PATIENTS: Twenty-three patients with solitary EM lesions meeting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria for Lyme disease. INTERVENTIONS: Patients underwent clinical and serologic evaluation for evidence of B burgdorferi infection. All lesions underwent photography, biopsy, culture and histopathologic and polymerase chain reaction analysis for B burgdorferi infection. Patients were treated with doxycycline hyclate and followed up clinically and serologically. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Disappearance of EM lesions and associated clinical symptoms in response to antibiotic therapy; short-term and follow-up serologic assays for diagnostic antibody; growth of spirochetes from tissue biopsy specimens in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly II media; special histopathologic stains of tissue for spirochetes; and polymerase chain reaction assays of tissue biopsy specimens for established DNA sequences of B burgdorferi. RESULTS: The EM lesions ranged from 5 to 20 cm (average, 9.6 cm). Five patients (22%) had mild systemic symptoms. All lesions and associated symptoms resolved with antibiotic therapy. Overall, 7 patients (30%) had some evidence of B burgdorferi infection. Cultures from 1 patient (4%) yielded spirochetes, characterized as Borrelia garinii, a European strain not known to occur in the United States; 3 patients (13%) demonstrated spirochetallike forms on special histologic stains; 5 patients (22%) had positive polymerase chain reaction findings with primers for flagellin DNA sequences; and 2 patients (9%) were seropositive for B burgdorferi infection using recommended 2-step CDC methods. No late clinical sequelae were observed after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The EM lesions we observed are consistent with early Lyme disease occurring elsewhere, but laboratory confirmation of B burgdorferi infection is lacking in at least 16 cases (70%) analyzed using available methods. Genetically variable strains of B burgdorferi, alternative Borrelia species, or novel, uncharacterized infectious agents may account for most of the observed EM lesions.
Link Here- http://juliannesc.tripod.com/abstract.html
Woman with disease so rare in Alabama no local help found
By SAMIRA JAFARI
The Associated Press
8/15/2004, 11:13 a.m. CT
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- When Stephanie Ingram wakes up, she tries to patch together her thoughts, catch her balance and shake off the pain, exhaustion and fatigue that's plagued her for more than three years.
That would be a good day. She mostly has bad weeks.
Ingram suffers from chronic Lyme disease, a bacterial illness transmitted by deer ticks that is so rare in Alabama, and most of the South, that medical help in the state did her little or no good. With some doctors skeptical the disease even exists in Alabama, Ingram was forced to seek treatment at a clinic in suburban New York.
"I honestly felt like I was dying," said the married mother of four from Montgomery. "I had four young children and I felt like I was racing against the clock."
The clinic in Millbrook, N.Y., where Ingram remains, has diagnosed her with a chronic form of the disease, and has started a lengthy antibiotic treatment that she could not get in Alabama.
The 44-year-old said she is a victim of a medical impasse -- a disagreement among physicians over whether advanced stages of the disease even exist and, if they do, how they should be treated.
She said her 13-year-old son is a victim, too; he has been diagnosed with the disease and also is under treatment at the New York clinic.
They have no recollection of when or where they may have contracted the disease, but she believes it probably was inside Alabama since her son hasn't left the state since he was little and she had not for at least a year before she began experiencing health problems.
The Centers for Disease Control says the illness can be fairly tricky to test for and diagnose, mainly because its symptoms take on an array of forms, including arthritis in its early stages to mild seizures, memory loss, facial paralysis and other neurological symptoms in later stages. It's sometimes easier to diagnose if a tell-tale "bull's eye rash" appears; Ingram didn't have it.
Diagnoses are most common where the bulk of cases are reported -- 95 percent of the cases are from the New England, mid-Atlantic and north-central states.
But that doesn't mean it's not spreading to other regions, said Dr. Erin Staples, a CDC epidemiologist.
"It is a persistent and growing concern for the U.S.," she said. "The general trend is Lyme disease cases increase over a steady rate in time."
Doctors who apply a broader definition may diagnose "chronic" or "probable" Lyme disease and initiate months, sometimes years, of potent antibiotic treatments. This method is viewed as risky by many in the medical profession, mainly because it can cause an internal infection in some cases, said Alabama's state epidemiologist, Dr. J.P. Lofgren.
The vast majority of Alabama doctors don't feel comfortable diagnosing Lyme disease, partly because of the similarity of the symptoms to that of other diseases and the inaccuracies of the tests, he said.
Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium -- the technical name is Borrelia burgdorferi -- that is transmitted to humans by infected deer ticks, also known as black-legged ticks, that contracted it from certain breeds of mice.
Since 1995, only 96 cases of Lyme disease have been reported to Alabama's public health department. Lofgren said those cases were either contracted outside the state or falsely received a positive test result for the disease.
He also said it is virtually impossible for Alabamians to contract the disease within state lines because the mice from which Northern deer ticks contract the bacterium do not live in Alabama.
"We do have patients who meet the definition for Lyme disease, but we think they're all not true cases unless they've been exposed in states like Wisconsin or Connecticut," Lofgren said.
Though few, there have been diagnoses in Alabama -- often late and resulting from frustrated patients desperately attempting to find out what ails them.
Les Roberts, a south Alabama broker, co-directs a Lyme disease support group for patients in his region and northwestern Florida. He said his first symptoms of Lyme disease appeared in the form of heart problems in 1990 -- he was diagnosed a decade later.
In the 10 years between, Roberts said he visited a laundry list of medical specialists, from cardiologists to urologists.
"The story I got consistently was 'You don't have Lyme disease, you're just depressed,'" Roberts said. "The doctors consistently denied I had any infection. I was almost dead."
Roberts was diagnosed by a Lyme disease specialist in Mobile after a urine test for Lyme came back positive. The urine test for Lyme disease has not been approved by the FDA, Staples said.
The 65-year-old Roberts said he hears from at least two Lyme diseases sufferers a week, and has been contacted by "dozens" for help since his diagnosis.
Ingram's battle was shorter, though no less aggravating.
She tested positive for the disease on five tests before going to New York, and said she encountered much skepticism from in-state doctors. As a result, it took three years to confirm her diagnosis.
Ingram has since filed a lawsuit against two doctors she saw between 2001 and 2003. She claims they failed to accurately diagnose her with Lyme disease and deprived her of antibiotic treatment in the disease's acute, or non-chronic, stages.
According to her lawsuit, both doctors put her through a battery of tests and returned positive results for Lyme disease, but denied her proper treatment.
Attorneys for the doctors said their clients deny those allegations.
Meanwhile, Ingram's symptoms worsened and her vision began to deteriorate.
"By now, I was so sick, I could barely sit up in chair," Ingram said. "I could only assume, there was no Lyme in Alabama and I had some other terrible disease."
By summer 2003, another internist in Birmingham gave her short-term antibiotic treatment preferred by most doctors treating Lyme. But by that point, Ingram's condition was so advanced that the six-week plan had little impact. She gave one more Alabama doctor a try, but like the first few, he questioned available treatment options.
Ingram finally decided to seek treatment at the clinic in New York that specializes in treating the disease. The doctors there have told her that there is no cure for chronic Lyme.
She has completed just over half of her three-month treatment, which consists of daily IV drips of strong antibiotics. The side effects of the concentrated treatment have magnified her earlier symptoms, she said, making her fatigue and joint pain almost unbearable.
When she returns home to her family in the fall, she will continue to take oral antibiotics for an indefinite amount of time. She said her son, whose disease is still in its acute stages, has been placed on a short-term antibiotic therapy while he stays in New York with her.
Ingram said her family has been drained emotionally and financially, and for now she's "trying to buy time" with the treatments.
"I will likely be back here (at the clinic)," she said. "And I will have to keep doing it until they find the magic bullet to destroy it completely or until it kills me."
[THIS STORY APPEARED IN SEVERAL ALABAMA NEWSPAPERS, INCLUDING ONES IN BIRMINGHAM AND TUSCALOOSA.]
I am VERY impressed by the article. Great work!
It was written very well and went into good detail. The writter should be told so.
If we could shut out the idiots comments, it would be even better.
Ok... I am ready to go off... bubble bubble boil...
Watch as my head explodes! How INSANE can a person be?
Lyme stops at the Alabama border? HELLO!!!
Does he think the ticks can read no trespassing signs?
Has Alabama funded new projects lately and created "wildlife schools" for increasing the reading skills of ticks that carry Lyme into the state?
What do we have here? Smart ticks that can read enough to know to stay out of Alabama.. OR.. stupid people who think they can!
And this is what gets MY goat...
They even slap the CDC in the face and go against what THEY are saying.
NOT that I am a huge CDC fan.. but hey. If no one is even listening to the minimum guidelines written by the CDC... then WHAT THE HECK ARE WE PAYING ALL THESE PEOPLE FOR??
Alabama's little BUG specialists THINK they know more than EVERYBODY in the world about chronic infectious diseases!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
Tell me...
Is ANYONE really STUPID enough to think the cases Alabama managed to diagnose in a state where the IDIOT doctors are not even looking for it are ALL FALSE POSITIVES or were picked up by folks when they were OUT OF STATE!!!
Sounds like howdy duty there in ally bama is working for the tourism board.. or sells real estate on the side perhaps?
I can't imagine ONE human is THAT stupid, so IS there another motive for him saying that?
Just like Florida! OH NO! Micky Mouse can't have Lyme disease! We would go broke if we lost all the dollars the tourists brought in.
Or, another question. Who is paying this dude big bucks to keep this under cover?
HOLY CROSS ALABAMA... I can't even imagine working for someone that stupid.
I would be embarrased to be living in a state that hires idiots like that and then let's them say those idiot comments in PUBLIC!
Well down in ally bama mamm.. we usually keep them stupid folks in the closet.. but dis one managed to crawl out of his cage the other week.. so sorry.
Is that where the Alabama tax payers money goes?
I wish all of us could put on deer, mouse, and tick costumes and line the borders of the state with pickett signs that say...
"ANYONE WITH LYME STAY OUT OF OUR STATE OR YOU WILL BE IN BIG TROUBLE"
By Order of Alabama State IDIOT bug specialists, Dr. J.P. Lofgren
OK... It's LETTER time!
By the way...
Thank you for posting this article. You are so very kind.
The above is only my opinion. And as TOBY says...
"How do you like me NOW?"
Bibliography
1. Kinsey AA, Durden LA, Oliver JH Jr.
Tick infestations of birds in coastal Georgia and Alabama. J Parasitol. 2000 Apr;86(2):251-4.
PMID: 10780541 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2: Wright JC, Chambers M, Mullen GR, Swango LJ, D'Andrea GH, Boyce AJ. Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi in dogs in Alabama, USA. Prev Vet Med. 1997 Jul;31(1-2):127-31.
PMID: 9234431 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3: Luckhart S, Mullen GR, Durden LA, Wright JC. Borrelia sp. in ticks recovered from white-tailed deer in Alabama.
J Wildl Dis. 1992 Jul;28(3):449-52.
PMID: 1512879 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
4: Magnarelli LA, Oliver JH Jr, Hutcheson HJ, Boone JL, Anderson JF. Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in rodents in the eastern and southern United States.
J Clin Microbiol. 1992 Jun;30(6):1449-52.
PMID: 1624561 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
5: Durden LA, Luckhart S, Mullen GR, Smith S. Tick infestations of white-tailed deer in Alabama. J Wildl Dis. 1991 Oct;27(4):606-14. PMID: 1758026 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6: Luckhart S, Mullen GR, Wright JC.
Etiologic agent of Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, detected in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) collected at a focus in Alabama.
J Med Entomol. 1991 Sep;28(5):652-7.
PMID: 1941933 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
7: McBryde RR.
Lyme disease in Alabama.
Ala Med. 1990 May;59(11):24-7. No abstract available.
PMID: 2375275 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
8: Woernle CH.
Surveillance for Lyme disease in Alabama.
Ala Med. 1989 Apr;58(10):19-20.
PMID: 2729028 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
9: Mullen GR, Piesman J. Serologically substantiated case of Lyme disease and potential tick vectors in Alabama.
Ala J Med Sci. 1987 Jul;24(3):306-7. No abstract available.
PMID: 3661896 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
HERE ARE LINKS TO WRITE LETTERS, if anyone wants to try to deal with invincible ignorance like this:
Articles
Lyme disease 'endemic' in 7 Alabama counties: what you need to know
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/lyme_disease_an_epidemic_in_7.html
Lyme disease a growing concern in Alabama