Support GALDA efforts by making a tax-deductible donation today.

Georgia Lyme Disease Association is an all-volunteer,  nonprofit 501(3) ccorporation dedicated to educating the public about tick-borne diseases and their prevention. 

To make a tax-deductible donation online, click the yellow button.  You do not need a Paypal account.

Or please mail your donation to: 

Georgia Lyme Disease Association 

P.O. Box 2073

Peachtree City, Georgia 30269

Thank you for your support.

 Lyme disease spirochetes from the movie,

Under Our Skin

Support

Lyme & Tick-borne

Disease Research!

-Photo courtesy NIH

June 2013

COMMON LONE STAR TICK

IMPLICATED IN

LYME DISEASE BACTERIA

FOUND IN SOUTHERNERS

For the first time ever, two species of Lyme disease bacteria previously unknown to infect humans, Borrelia americana and Borrelia andersonii, have been found in symptomatic patients living in the Southeastern USA. Importantly, the commonly found lone star tick, formerly believed by many to be incapable of transmitting Lyme disease, was implicated in some of these cases.

The research, published in the May issue of The International Journal of Medical Sciences, is significant for several reasons.  First, only one Lyme bacterial species, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bbss), was previously recognized to cause disease in North Americans.  Current testing methods and interpretation criteria, designed to detect just one species, may explain many of the complaints involving the unreliability of Lyme disease tests in the USA.

In addition, the belief  that only black-legged "deer" ticks can transmit Lyme disease has been widely publicized for decades.  Lyme disease risk has been calculated largely based upon the prevalence and infection rate of these "deer" ticks, Ixodes scapularis.  In fact, Yale University recently released a new Lyme Disease Risk Map funded by a $2.9 million CDC grant which was highly contested by many. (They only tested a total of nine black-legged ticks from a few southern states.)  Yale's map, based solely on "deer ticks," shows little risk to people living outside the Northeastern USA.  Clark's findings, together with past studies implicating lone star ticks associated with Lyme disease (Masters, Rawlings, Felz, Feir, etc.), strongly suggest otherwise. 

Dr. Clark and his team identified lone star ticks, Amblyomma americanum,  removed from humans who tested positive for Lyme bacteria, including the species of Borrelia burgdorferi, Bbss, already known to cause the disease in North America.  Some of the ticks removed from the patients tested positive, too. 

Lone star ticks are the most commonly found species biting humans in the Southeastern United States.  These aggressive ticks are found almost halfway across the nation - from the deep South and as far north as Canada. This groundbreaking research may clarify why so many humans living outside of the Northeastern USA claim they have contracted Lyme disease** regardless of the absence or low prevalence rate of  infected black-legged "deer" ticks.

The new findings significantly expand the geographic area where Lyme disease should be considered by medical providers and citizens alike.  As Georgia Lyme Disease Association president Liz Schmitz remarked, "If only one percent of these ticks are able to transmit Lyme disease, it poses a tremendous threat to public health because lone star ticks are known to bite humans so frequently."

Called The New Great Imitator, Lyme disease is often mistaken for illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's, ADHD, and even Alzheimer's.

Georgia Lyme Disease Association is proud to have provided both technical assistance and funding for this research.

** For decades, public health officials and Lyme disease groups and organizations have heard from thousands of patients living outside known "endemic" areas who claim they and/or their family members contracted Lyme disease with no travel history.  With 715 cases on record, Georgia was the 4th highest state in the nation in CDC-reported Lyme cases in 1989 but reported only 10 by 2010.  Most cases of southern Lyme disease now  go unreported due to the different regional surveillance guidelines used.  Southern cases are often dismissed as "false positives."