Category: Tick Bourne Diseases
A cattle disease and the tick carrying it are confirmed in Iowa for the first time
OPR The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said the state’s first case of Theileria orientalis Ikeda was confirmed in a cattle herd in Van Buren County in the southeast corner of the state. The protozoan parasite infects the red and white blood cells of cattle, causing anemia and sometimes death. It’s carried by the Asian longhorned tick, […]
Jun 17, 2025
Clothing—not agriculture—helped spread a tick disease 5000 years ago
Science New study of a pathogen’s Bronze Age spread challenges longstanding links between disease and early agriculture. A now-obscure cousin of Lyme disease called recurring fever was a scourge of early civilization. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia recurrentis, it results in crippling headaches and repeated bouts of high fever; if left untreated, it damages organs and […]
Jun 11, 2025
A rare tick-borne disease has started spreading into Virginia
WHRO The illness is caused by a parasite, which makes it different from many well-known tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme. A rare disease spread by ticks has slowly established a foothold in Virginia. Babesiosis, a parasitic infection similar to malaria, was traditionally limited to the U.S. Northeast and Midwest. But over the past decade, officials […]
Jun 11, 2025
Research at risk: Better testing for tick-borne diseases
Cornell University Laura Goodman was close to finalizing a prototype of a new test that can detect any tick-borne disease. Unlike some current tests, it could provide results even before symptoms occur – and even for unknown diseases. That’s important, because ticks around the world can potentially transmit hundreds of disease agents, some of them […]
Jun 4, 2025
Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome May Be Driven by Remnants of Infection
Northwestern Scientists learn why the body may continue to respond to an invisible threat long after bacterial death. Symptoms that persist long after Lyme disease is treated are not uncommon — a 2022 study found that 14 percent of patients who were diagnosed and treated early with antibiotic therapy would still develop Post Treatment Lyme Disease (PTLD). Yet […]
May 14, 2025
A Potentially Life-Threatening Disease Caused by Ticks Is Expanding to New Parts of America
Smithsonian Magazine Babesiosis typically occurs in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest, but new research suggests rare cases are emerging in the mid-Atlantic region including Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Babesiosis is a rare, tick-borne disease caused by a parasite that attacks the red blood cells and can lead to flu-like symptoms such as fever, body […]
May 14, 2025
A man died from a tick bite in Massachusetts. His family wants to prevent it from happening again.
CBS News The family of a Massachusetts man who died after a tick bite wants everyone to take ticks seriously and, if you get bitten by one, go see a doctor. Erin Boyce remembers the day her brother Kevin Boyce got sick after being bitten by a tick in April 2024. Kevin Boyce’s story “It […]
May 14, 2025
Critical Breakthrough in Understanding and Possibly Eradicating Lyme Disease
WIBX Researchers at VCU submitted their findings to mBio, claiming they discovered “the Achilles’ heel of Lyme disease bacterium Borreliella burgdorferi.” The weakness is found in the Lyme-causing bacteria itself, which is the lactate dehydrogenase (BbLDH) enzyme. Researchers say it is the crucial ingredient that helps the bacteria grow and spread through an infected host’s body. This unique enzyme […]
May 7, 2025
Ticks Pose an Increasing Health Risk
Johns Hopkins With no vaccines yet and limited treatment options, avoiding tick bites is our best bet in reducing the risk of tickborne illnesses. The vast majority of vector-borne diseases in the U.S. are caused by ticks and the viruses, bacteria, and parasites they carry. Between 2019-2022, all 50 states and Washington, D.C. reported cases of […]
Apr 30, 2025
We’re Releasing Millions Of Birds. The Ticks Are Thriving
Forbes Each summer in the U.K., up to 50 million pheasants are released into woods and fields for recreational shooting. At their seasonal peak, the biomass of these birds rivals that of all native U.K. breeding birds combined — an astonishing ecological intervention repeated year after year. The practice is legal, well-established and supports rural economies. But new evidence […]
Apr 23, 2025