Borrelia Arthropod Vectors

“RMSF is the most common fatal human tick-borne disease in the United States, with a minimal average of 351 confirmed human cases occurring annually and undoubtedly many more going unreported” (Niebylski et al.).

One of the more common pests located in the Northeastern United States is the Black Legged Tick (Ixodes scapularis). More commonly known as the “Deer Tick” this animal primarily inhabits wooded areas populated by warm-blooded wildlife. Specifically the temperate Pine Barrens in Southern New Jersey, which hosts the 2nd largest tick population in the country (CDC, 2010), the black legged tick is a common pest that spreads lyme disease. This disease is a bacterial infection caused by the tick latching onto a host and feeding for an extended period of time. These ticks attach to most warm blooded woodland creatures and any human beings unfortunate enough to get close enough.

A tick does not discriminate against its food source. Many animals in the wild are carriers of such parasites, and one reason the deer is considered a major carrier is that it has limited ability to remove ticks.

According to Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt (a world renowned Lyme expert), Lyme disease is considered the plague of the century due to the large number of people with chronic Lyme disease and the associated co-infections. The number one symptom of Lyme is chronic fatigue. People can have Lyme for a very long time and not be properly diagnosed because current laboratory testing comes up short with being able to detect it. One of the main reasons for this is because chronic Lyme does not live in the blood but rather in the tissues. It is an intracellular organism meaning it lives inside the cell. Lyme has different shapes: spirochete (like a spring), cyst with a hard shell, and acellular (without an outer cell membrane). Lyme likes to set up a sanctuary in the body such as in the brain, teeth (such as under a root canal or in a cavitation), vertebrae, breast tissue, and lymph nodes. It looks for a place where it can be protected and the body is vulnerable preferably in fatty tissue or under a biofilm. While traditionally Lyme disease is considered a tick-borne disease, recent findings have discovered that it is an insect-borne disease that can get transferred

Indiana is considered to be a moderate risk state. Some of the states with a higher risk factor are along the upper east coast, Midwest, and western states. These areas seem to have a larger section of woods where the ticks like to hang out. Children seem to develop the disease more than adults. This is probably from being outside and playing

Lyme Disease comes from a line of bacteria called Borrelia Burgdorferi which originated during the ice age in Europe. Lyme disease cases are mainly reported in the northeastern states. This blood borne pathogen can only survive inside a host such as a tick. The Ixodes tick commonly known as the black legged tick or deer ticks become infected transmitting Lyme Disease through their bite. Unexpected hosts such as deer, fox, possum, raccoons, horses, cattle, small rodents, pets and even humans can be easy targets for ticks.

“Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, was first isolated in 1982 by Willy Burgdorfer, Ph.D., a zoologist and microbiologist at NIAID’s Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana.” (NIAID, 2008.) Dr. Burgdorfer at the time was studying Rocky Mountain Fever in attempt to help Jorge Benach, Ph.D., discover why more than 100 spotted fever cases occurred in New York between 1971 and 1976. “Dr. Benach, of the New York State Department of Health had been a source of American dog ticks for Burgdorfer to study.” (NIAID, 2008.)

“Lyme disease got its name from where it was first discovered in Lyme, Connecticut in 1975” (healthychildren.org). “Since then there has been thousands of cases reported of the disease. The ticks live in low and high seasonal temperatures and high humidity” (healthychildren.org). Lyme Disease most common to occur in the Northeast, North-central states, or West Coast. On behalf of the Northeast, I can tell you that ticks are everywhere in this region. They like to live in tall grasses and woody areas. “The small insects more than often latch onto the foot or lower leg and crawl up the body, and travel up the body with a destination of the head. On their normal hosts, ticks also usually crawl up; they want to blood feed around the

In literature, stories of madness and isolation have fascinated the minds of readers, exploring the human psyche and pushing the boundaries of reality. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” are both famous examples of short stories that explore the chilling depths of psychological horror, creating narratives that plunge audiences into a nightmarish world of dread and suspense. These narratives converge on themes of isolation and the exploration of the blurred boundary between sanity and madness. Through these writings, Gilman and Poe present the complexities of mental illness and the terrifying effects of societal constraints on individual autonomy.

Thesis Statement: “According to the Center of Disease Control, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector borne illness in the United States”(Lyme Disease: Data and statistics, 2016).

Lyme disease has emerged as the most common vector borne infectious disease in the United States and has presented a growing challenge to public health officials over the past three decades. The infection represents a significant disease burden to the population of the United States with nearly 30,000 new cases diagnosed per year and an estimated additional 270,000 annual incident cases that go unreported. The disease results from a bacterial infection with the spirochete bacteria B. burgdorferi. This bacterial agent is transmitted to humans from the bite of a tick and is most commonly associated Ixodes species blacklegged ticks. These ticks represent the largest genus of the family Ixodidae and mainly inhabit temperate forest or grassland

A survey was composed to try to understand whether living around wooded areas could increase susceptibility towards getting Lyme Disease, whether owning outdoor pets was a risk towards getting Lyme Disease, and finally, what type of deer tick preventative measures work best amongst animals. Surveys were collected in two ways: online surveys and telephone surveys. In the end, the results were checked through statistical analysis and proven significant. All the results were posted on the Facebook page.

In Canada, there are too many “false- negative” results, according to Jim Wilson, President of the Canadian Lyme disease Foundation and this standpoint is also recognized by Health Canada. (Magnotta, 2015). The human body takes several weeks for humans to create antibodies at detectable levels. This limits the detection of the various genotypes of the borrelia bacteria, from the procedures used, which in effect, is allowing late stage serology to occur. According to Dr. Ralph Hawkins, who is a General internal site lead at Calgary’s South Health Campus Hospital and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Calgary, states that “serology is failing us; showing only 50 percent positive results in early Lyme disease

Dating back to ancient times, the role of women has never reached true equality with men. We can trace this inequality back to as early as the great Athenian society, where life as we know it today started taking form. On the other side of the inequality, throughout the ancient history of the world, the roles and positions that women have had have improved over time. We can see this tracing time from Athens, to Sparta, the Roman Republic, it's Empire and the rise of Christianity. Although some of theses societies lived parallel in time, each one shows a difference in the way they treat women. Each one did not treat women the same, but the end result compared to the beginning is positive for women.

The Man to Send Rain Clouds is a short story based on the death of a very old man at the Pueblo Indian reservation. This results to various issues from the conflicting spiritual aspects and Christianity aspects. At the beginning of the story, the body of the old man is identified lying under a cottonwood tree in the indicant reservation. The sheep owned by the old man are scattered in all locations of the arroyo Lavine. The two men who identify the body are Leon and Ken and they manage to bring back the camp where they found the old man’s body. The story focuses on the life of individuals in Laguna, New Mexico. It is written during the 1960s when there was an interest on the indigenous cultures in America. During the period, diverse