11 ms·
Illnesses from Mosquito, Tick, and Flea Bites Increasing in the US
- jph 8y agoThis is terrifying. A friend's kid is fighting back to help people: she's just 13 and she's learning as fast as she can about medicine. Website and donate link: http://livlymefoundation.org/ http://livlymefoundation.org/ “She went from this sweet, bubbly kid with a twinkle in her eye, to a child who could not track you, who was completely checked out”. They went to doctor after doctor but no one could provide an answer. Finally, 51 doctors and 18 months later, they found out Goodreau had Lyme disease. https://www.thedenverchannel.com/lifestyle/health/denver-girl-diagnosed-with-lyme-disease-fighting-to-bring-awareness-find-a-cure https://www.thedenverchannel.com/lifestyle/health/denver-gir...
- wl 8y agoThere is a tiny minority of primary care physicians ("Lyme-Literate Medical Doctors") who will blame any fatigue of unknown etiology on Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne diseases, despite the lack of any clinical signs like the classic red ring or commonly accepted lab results like antibody assays. They prescribe powerful antibiotics on a long term basis, despite the severe side-effects and the complete lack of evidence that such treatments are helpful. I blame this problem on the fact that some maladies just don't have any answers yet, but people want to provide them. For some, it's chronic lyme. For others, it's biofilms (Cf. the Marshall protocol), subluxations (chiropractic), or unbalanced qi (reiki).
- freeflight 8y ago> despite the lack of any clinical signs like the classic red ring Afaik proper diagnosis still poses quite a bit of challenge. The red ring doesn't always happen, in a German trial only 23% of neuroborreliosis patients actually had the "wanderröte". [0] Similar problems with the antibody assays: They can only detect if the pathogen had been present/not present, but not if it's an acute or a chronic infection. That's why some physicians keep on giving long-term antibiotics regimes, based on the assumption that it's a chronic infection. [0] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00115-003-1560-z#/page-1 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00115-003-1560-z#...
- inteleng 8y agoIf it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, and you see it in duck territory, and there have been ducks traipsing around where you found it, it's probably a duck. Speculating on the risks of treatment is premature when the cost is a few $k a year and the alternative is shitty quality of life. Prove that long-term antibiotic treatment is harmful, and then prove that there exists a better treatment. Daraprim may be extremely toxic, and cost $750/pill, but people still take it.
- jbob2000 8y agoIs this because the bites are actually making people ill, or are people finally going to the doctor for their illnesses because they have insurance? Could this also be that people who live in mosquito areas are getting older and thus more susceptible to illness? (Since young people flock to cities on the coast) They kind of alluded to this in the article, saying that people are traveling more, and thus spreading diseases to mosquitoes, but the data shows a dramatic uptick (pun intended) from last year!
- maxerickson 8y agoThe huge jump in 2016 was mostly Zika, mostly in Puerto Rico (36,000 cases). The full text of the report is more informative than the pamphlet (less likely to get on the nightly news though). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6717e1.htm?s_cid=mm6717e1 https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6717e1.htm?s_cid=mm...
- esaym 8y agoAt least here in Texas, there have been outbreaks of Chagas disease (from kissing bugs) and zika that have all come from immigrants from Mexico. Not sure about lyme and west nile.
- zaroth 8y agoI don’t know about ticks and fleas, but can we all agree to just fucking eradicate aedes aegypti and the 30 or so species of mosquitos which bite humans? They are literally the most dangerous thing (to humans) on the planet. Responsible for spreading diseases which have killed more humans than any other cause (including all wars) throughout human history. We can leave the remaining ~3,500 species of mosquitos—which don’t bite humans—alone.
- rubicon33 8y agoI would instantly quit my job and join any company who's mission was to eradicate mosquitos. Shit, I'm an engineer but if they were full on engineers and short on janitors I'd do that just to be a part of a team doing that work.
- mrfusion 8y agoI’ve got a bunch of ideas on cheap, simple mosquito traps. I’m just not sure where to start. Patents? If anyone wants to help, get in touch. Edit I guess I should build some prototypes as a first step.
- gschier 8y agoIdeas aren't worth much. Go build some prototypes and get the thing out there :)
- ryanseys 8y agoDo it! I've seen videos floating around E.g. [0] that are as simple as a giant fan that sucks in mosquitoes. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ
- atomical 8y agoDo you have any plans for a Crispr gene drive to wipe them out?
- ryanseys 8y ago
- Sevrene 8y agoThe amount of people contracting diseases from bites can increase, but it doesn't actually mean you're more likely to contract diseases from bites. For instance here in Australia there has been a rise of shark attacks recently. The reason isn't necessarily because sharks were attacking more people or acting more aggressively, it was because more people were in the water. It's interesting how statistics can point you in the wrong direction.
- stevenwoo 8y agoAlthough interesting, that analogy doesn't hold for the ticks discussed - the range, habitat and viable seasons for Lyme disease carrying ticks has extended greatly due to climate change across the globe and infection rates have been mostly increasing every year for the past two decades.
- et-al 8y agoThat's a good point. We can probably account for the increase by seeing when Instagram started having an uptick in #outsideisfree photos.
- sizzle 8y ago"uptick" heh
- cmrdporcupine 8y agoSuppressing the booming deer population and getting higher populations of foxes and other predators of mice would definitely with the lyme disease problem.
- nyxtom 8y agoWe are epically screwed if our only defense against this is "wear long sleeves and pants" and "try insect repellent"
- Alex3917 8y ago- All clothes that you wear into the woods should be treated with permethrin. (Don't apply DEET, because mixing permethrin with DEET is neurotoxic.) - Pants should always be tucked into socks. - Wear light-colored clothing so that ticks are easier to see before they get onto your skin. - Wear something like boxer briefs where there is tight elastic on both the wasteband and thighs. - If you get a tick in a certain park, never go back to that park. The distribution of ticks is highly uneven, so this is surprisingly effective. - Always check yourself in the mirror as soon as you get home, and then immediately take a shower and make sure you check every square inch of your body. - Any clothes you wore into the woods should either go into the laundry, or else be stored in a sealed container so that any ticks on your clothing can't start running around your bedroom. Tickborne illnesses are extremely serious, difficult or impossible to diagnose, and often deadly. But if you always follow these basic steps then you can eliminate the vast majority of the risk. Scientists used to believe that it took 24 hours after getting bitten to transmit tickborne illnesses, but this is no longer the case. When in doubt just do the 21 days of doxycycline, although obviously this isn't something you ever want to have to do. (Some tickborne illnesses aren't treatable with doxycycline, but this is a good starting point absent other specific symptoms.)
- jpm_sd 8y ago> mixing permethrin with DEET is neurotoxic [citation needed] - I haven't been able to find anything that says this is any /more/ dangerous than either chemical on its own Somewhat relevant, but involving other chemicals: http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-17/news/mn-59595_1_gulf-war http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-17/news/mn-59595_1_gulf-... https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/syndrome/abou.html https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/syndrome/abou....
- Alex3917 8y ago
- samstave 8y agoI recently (two weeks ago) - went hiking on Mt. Tam in Marin. I played on a beautiful mossy log. When I got up, I wiped all the leafy detritus off me - and I found a tick. I killed it immediately and gouged his head out of me. What should I do? Should I be worried about Lyme? How test? I had a tick only once before on a camping trip in Big Sur - and that one was much bigger than this one - but nothing happened. Any advice?
- andbberger 8y agoNot the place to ask for medical advice... maybe call an advice nurse?
- samstave 8y agoSo in a thread about Lyme disease where people are talking about their company's efforts to eradicate ticks, its not the place to ask a question about ticks? Whatever. So, in a thread about Redshift on AWS, with Jeff here talking about the service, I should probably go hire a DBA rather than ask a simple question like "how often should one perform a vacuum? This is not the place to ask about redshift, you should probably go hire an AWS solutions architect. Sure.
- gardnr 8y agoPeople get unreasonable when having normal conversation in the liability environment the US legal system creates.
- andbberger 8y agoWat. nothing do with liability. This isn't a medicine forum!
- atomical 8y agoHow many MDs are on Hacker News?
- sevensor 8y ago
- andrewl 8y agoThere's been a good bit of press about this, and I expect more. Here's one recent article: https://aeon.co/essays/how-lyme-disease-became-the-first-epidemic-of-climate-change https://aeon.co/essays/how-lyme-disease-became-the-first-epi... The article is by the author of Lyme - The First Epidemic of Climate Change. [1] [1] https://islandpress.org/books/lyme https://islandpress.org/books/lyme
- timb07 8y ago"Mosquitoes and ticks and the germs they spread are increasing in number and moving into new areas." Why? I suspect that climate change is a factor, but how do we know whether that's true and the CDC isn't allowed to report it, or whether it's false?
- jaequery 8y agoLyme is one thing everyone needs to be worried or cautious about. I dont know why but the media is trying to keep it under wraps. Its a hidden pandemic waiting to happen.
- acdha 8y ago> I dont know why but the media is trying to keep it under wraps Major citation needed: I’ve read tons of coverage over at least three decades. What makes you think it’s being covered up?
- jaequery 8y agothere isnt a specific one but here is an example: https://www.holtorfmed.com/cdc-doesnt-want-know-lyme/ https://www.holtorfmed.com/cdc-doesnt-want-know-lyme/
- rainbowmverse 8y agoThis whole site screams "obnoxious quack." I'm surprised I don't see an eBook pitch. I don't know who this doctor is or why he's somehow more credible than the CDC.
- acdha 8y agoThat’s a pretty weak argument and it’s on a site devoted to getting you to sign up with a “Lyme Literate MD”, which by strange coincidence includes the guy writing the page. I’m more convinced that there’s a conflict of interest there than anything else. AFAICT, the CDC position is the usual conservative scientific process: “chronic Lyme” isn’t a recognized diagnosis, the proposed treatments aren’t clinically proven, and there are significant risks: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6623a3.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6623a3.htm
- saryant 8y agoGrowing up in the western half of the US, I virtually never heard about Lyme growing up. (To be clear, I don't think it's a conspiracy, it's just not nearly as common in the west) Then some of my family moved east and it seemed like everyone there has dealt with Lyme. Kinda makes me just want to stay in Colorado, which has never originated a case of human Lyme disease: http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/colorado-ticks-and-tick-borne-diseases-5-593/ http://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/colorado-...
- delinka 8y agoAlpha-gal allergy, or mammalian meat allergy, needs more attention. “Bites from certain ticks, such as the lone star tick in the US, [...] have been implicated in the development of this delayed allergic response which is triggered by the consumption of mammalian meat products.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy
- clayrichardson 8y agoI'm spinning up a lab in Santa Cruz to research the local tick population. We could use extra skilled hands to help obtain the distribution of pathogens, and in developing treatment protocols. Plus, who doesn't enjoy a good tick hunt? Get at me if you're 'bout it: eng at clayrichardson.me
- montyf 8y agoSounds like something I'd be good at. All I have to do is stroll through the woods and I have 20 ticks on my person.
- aldoushuxley001 8y agoI can't help but wonder if this isn't related to the decimated insect populations and subsequent cascade effects
- acdha 8y agoOr other predators – apparently foxes and martens preying on mice helps reduce the tick population: https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2017/08/17/eckert-ticks-make-you-nervous-you-need-more-coyotes/578105001/ https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2017/08/17/ecker...
- neves 8y agoThe cynical in me thinks this is great news. Now research to control these 3rd World diseases will finally be well funded.
- fallingfrog 8y agoHere in Maine, we now have a big problem with ticks with lyme disease, whereas when I was little I lived in the woods and was never once bitten by a tick. But now they're everywhere. The winters are becoming milder, the deer population is growing, and the ticks are surviving the cold better, and it all combines to create a situation where the tick population is growing fast.
- tyu100 8y agoIn the Canadian prairies we already had an insanely short window between endless winter season and infinite mosquito season and now tick invasion season has ably filled that gap. Argh.
- todd8 8y agoI see climate change being blamed for this increase in insect bites, but can this be right? Perhaps it’s a factor; however, as I understand it the USA has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 100 years[1]. There is roughly a 50 degree difference between the northern states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and the southern states based on a quick peek at iso therm maps for the USA.[2] It lookes like that would increase the ticks habitats very little over a whole century. Now take a look at the dramatic changes in just few years presented in the article. [1] https://globalclimate.ucr.edu/resources.html https://globalclimate.ucr.edu/resources.html [2] https://climate.ncsu.edu/images/edu/IsobarsIsotherms.gif https://climate.ncsu.edu/images/edu/IsobarsIsotherms.gif
- phyller 8y agoI think lately we are looking for a reason to blame climate change for a lot of things because it is top of mind and we fear it so much. However, a historically cold climate disease like Lyme disease moving south is not explained by warming temperatures. I suspect several reasons. First, an increase in the natural vectors for parasites. We have eliminated wolves and reduced other predators, and since we don't hunt small mammals for food anymore there could be an explosion in their population. Even deer, which we continue to hunt, have seen rapid population growth over the last century[1]. Looking at the population minimum from the deer population chart, I suspect that other potential disease vector hosts might have gone through a similar minimum followed by a rebound, and parasites are recovering with them. Second, an increased awareness of these diseases is probably a big factor. I've known many people who have contracted Lyme disease. It used to be a big fight to get a doctor to take the possibility seriously, even in Connecticut where I used to live (the epicenter of Lyme disease)! As of even 5 years ago friends and family of mine could not get a prescription for the required antibiotic until they had a positive test result, which is finicky and allows the disease to progress over the weeks of delay. And Lyme is an incredibly debilitating disease. Diseases like Zika that have much more subtle symptoms (except in babies) could easily go unnoticed. Finally, keep in mind that malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever used to be common in the United States. This is a natural range for these kind of mosquito borne diseases. We used to take mosquito population control much more seriously, perhaps we have become too apathetic about it. How many people do you know that are part of the local mosquito control association? Do you make sure there is no standing water on your property? Do we spray for mosquitos any more? [1] http://www.deerfriendly.com/_/rsrc/1474256275604/decline-of-deer-populations/1450Pop.jpg?height=318&width=400 http://www.deerfriendly.com/_/rsrc/1474256275604/decline-of-...
- TheBeardKing 8y agoAnyone have experience with mosquito yard treatments? I'm in the southeast and have a good-sized garden, so I don't want to treat with anything which would harm pollinators. I've used the Terminix AllClear Bait and Kill spray the past couple years, and there's several studies which support the efficacy of its patented ATSB ingredient. The problem is it's only available to consumers in the small spray cans, which run $15 for a 2-pack. The concentrate is only available to Terminix exterminators and municipalities. There are other natural methods, but they mainly rely on deterrence rather than elimination.
- mlloyd 8y agoI use this on my yard in the midwest. Turns it into a no-fly zone. Fine for dogs, not safe for cats so keep that in mind. Permethrin SFR 36.8% *Edit - Nevermind - this WILL harm bees. Sorry about that.