Scientists warn against invasive ticks of the length duration carrying a infection with debilitating ehrlichiosis
A kind of invasive ticks getting a path in more parts of the country, as warming temperatures help it spread a little -known infection that can leave people with debilitating symptoms and, in rare cases.
In May, scientists from the Connecticut Agricultural Experimentation Station in New Haven discovered for the first time that the long -term tick had become a carrier for the bacteria which causes infection to ehrlichiosis. With cases already increasing, it was a great cause of concern.
“I am afraid of saying that it is a storm brewing,” said Goudarz Molaei, director of the tick test program in the laboratory. “Climate change will eventually eliminate winter in our region. And this tick, like other species of ticks, will be active all year round. ”
The warming temperatures, which have already translated in shorter winters, allow ICT and other species of ticks to wake up early hibernation, increasing the risk of biting.
Long ICT, originally from East Asia, first invaded places like Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. He has now Was detected in at least 21 states, Michigan reporting its first observation at the end of June. Researchers do not know how the tick arrived in the United States, but it is likely that it has arrived on the back of imported cattle or other animals.
In 2017, scientists identified the first long tick of the country in New Jersey, although it is likely that the species has been in the United States since at least 2010.
“The fact that it has been here for so long without us really knowing that it was really a call for alarm clock,” said Dana Price, a research professor associated with the Entomology Department of Rutgers University.
Modeling indicates The southern Canada regions through the continental United States are suitable for the environment for long-term tick.
This means that the threat is twofold: the geographical range of long length is expanding, just like the moment when it is active and capable of transmitting a disease, scientists said.
Ehrlichiosis becomes so widespread that there is a region of the country unofficially named after: the “Ehrlichiosis belt” extends as far as Connecticut and New York to As west as the Arkansas.
Lone Star and Blacklegged ticks have long transported Ehrlichia chaffensis, the bacteria that causes ehrlichiosis. The infection sends about 60% of patients to the hospital and kills approximately 1 in 100 patients, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Infected people will usually have a fever, chills, muscle pain, headache and fatigue one to two weeks after being bitten. But if people are not treated quickly, infection can sometimes cause damage to the brain and nervous system, respiratory failure, uncontrolled bleeding and organic insufficiency.
The number of cases of Ehrlichiosis has increased regularly since 2000, when the CDC reported 200 cases, against 2,093 in 2019. Studies suggest that the number of annual cases of Ehrlichiosis is largely underestimated, with a study by researchers from the University of Rutgers saying that 99% of cases were not detected.
The CDC reported this month that there were more emergency visits in July for tick stings than the last eight twins. At the beginning of July, officials closed Pleasure Beach, a popular place of swimming in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for summer after discovering an infestation of several species of ticks, including long -term tick.
Manisha Juthani, the commissioner of the Ministry of Public Health of Connecticut, said that climate change makes the “tick season” less predictable, Connecticut residents should take precautions like wearing long pants and entering them in their socks and carrying out tick controls on family members and pets after having been outside for long periods.
“The reality is that with the changes we see in the climate, we must be more prepared and more aware of the infections and pathogens to which we can be exposed by being outside and potentially aware of the things that can really harm people,” said Juthani.
While long ticks often prefer blood from lives to humans, entomologists say that their unique biology makes it a great risk of public health. They can establish populations of thousands of a single woman because, like bees, they have the capacity to reproduce without comrades.
They can also ingest and become bearers of pathogens generally transported by other species of ticks if they feed on the same host. The process, known as co-eating, is common among most tick species.
Molaei said that his recent discovery of the bacteria prior to ehrlichiosis in long -term tick raises concerns about other pathogens that the checkout may be able to contract and transmit to humans. The long -term tick and the Solitaire Star ICT, one of the original carriers of Ehrlichia, both feed on similar hosts, such as white -tailed deer.
“We live in this part of the world with several important species of ticks, and we must learn to live with so many ticks,” said Molaei. “And the key is to protect us.”
The World Health Organization reports that more than 17% of infectious diseases worldwide are transmitted by vectors, intermediate animals that transport viruses, bacteria and other pathogens from one animal to another. In the United States, the diseases transmitted by ticks represented 77% of reports on diseases transmitted by Vector from 2004 to 2016, more than doubled cases in the last 13 years, according to data collected by the CDC.
Jennifer Platt was bitten by a tick during this period. She Contracted ehrlichiosis of a tick bite in North Carolina to the summer of 2011.
When she could not pick up and wear her 2 -year -old son, a friend who is a nurse suggested that she go to the hospital immediately. The friend suspected that Platt could have a tick -transmitted infection.
Platt was sick and under antibiotics for months after his diagnosis. Her shoulder has locked himself due to the infection – a rare but contractable chronic symptom of the disease transmitted by ticks – leading to months of physiotherapy and putting it unemployed for three months.
It took him over a year to completely recover from the lasting impacts of the infection.
“The best way to describe it,” she said, “is that I felt like death.”
A few years after starting to feel better, it was diagnosed with Lyme and Babesiosis diseases – which it attributes to the same tick bite.
Platt, who co -founded the organization of non -profit advocacy defense organization of Tick Conditions United, said that she hoped that the recent discovery of the Bacterian of Ehrlichia in long tick will contribute to awareness of doctors and the general public on the threat of diseases transmitted by ticks, in particular those little known as ehrlight.
“My mission in life is to support people to be who they are,” said Platt. “And if you are sick of a disease transmitted by ticks, you cannot be who you are.”
