Research Paper On Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Rocky Mountain National Park has it all: a pristine mountain lake, aspen leaves trembling in the breeze, craggy mountain peaks covered in snow. Although Rocky Mountain National Park is an eighth the size of Yellowstone, it packs everything in it’s 266,714 acres of land. Majestic mountain views can be found literally everywhere, and you don’t even have to step out of your car to see it! Grasslands, forests, and even glaciers can be explored in Rocky Mountain National Park. After a quick 2 hour drive from Denver, Colorado, you will know that coming to Rocky Mountain National Park is worthy of being a National Park.

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

“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.).

Yellow Fever was like a massive fire burning through Philadelphia killing thousands and thousands of people! It was also like a lightning bolt which struck the earth as hard as a runaway train. If you did not know, Yellow Fever is a horrific disease which comes from certain diseased, or infected mosquitoes. The Philadelphian and French doctors had to come up with a solution, or clarification. They both came up with a cure that they thought would be able to help people with the illness. This certain event happened in the summer of 1793 in Philadelphia. The mosquitoes came from some ships that sailed over seas into Philadelphia ports . There was between 2000-5000 people dead. It almost feels like 10,000 were dead! Yellow Fever still exist

What became known as Texas tick fever probably arrived in North America sometime in the seventeenth century carried by cattle brought by Spanish colonists from the West Indies. It was transmitted by the cattle tick which required 200 or more frost free days per year for survival. Therefore, its spatial extent was the southern states. Initially, southerners were not terribly concerned about the disease since cattle was rarely a primary economic investment in the southern United States. Antebellum Texas was an exception since it dominated the national cattle industry. By the 1850s farmers in states such as Missouri were turning back cattle drives from Texas for fear of infecting their herds. In some instances there were violent confrontations, assaulting and even killing some of the cowboys. Eventually northern states intervened to protect their herds, instituting quarantine laws against southern cattle. In 1892 the federal government delineated a quarantine line that followed the northern border of permanent fever infestation. The accompanying regulations stated that cattle could only be moved to northern markets between

POWASSAN VIRUS: POTENTIALLY FATAL TICK DISEASE THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED IN MINUTES REPORTED IN MAINE

Humphreys, however, takes a political approach in “Yellow Fever and the South,” focusing on governmental actions outside of the realm of the courtroom. Her work is composed of a detailed outline of the development of public health in the South and the subsequent tension that manifested between federal and state powers. Humphreys asserts that public health in the South was born in response to the frequent yellow fever outbreaks in urban environments where there was “overcrowding, putrefying organic matter, and the excavation of soil for construction.” Sanitary reform, along with quarantine, was an often attempted mechanism of epidemic prevention. Sanitation efforts were difficult given the fierce belief in laissez-faire government, the conflation

Smallpox is an infectious virus that has influenced people for many centuries. Smallpox got its name from a latin word called ¨spotted¨ since you get those bumps that are red all over your body. You could easily prevent this disease.

Ticks, they are most significant vectors of infectious diseases in the United States. These arachnids can host a scary medley of infectious bacterium, and they are increasing at an alarming rate with one CDC graph showing their numbers have almost tripled since 1995 (Lyme Stats). Some point to greater awareness, other point to climate change, while we don’t know exactly why their reach is growing we do know we have to be wary of the diseases they carry. While not all ticks are hosts, ticks carrying the Borrelia bacteria known for causing Lyme disease present a massive public health risk. Lyme is one most under researched Infectious diseases with the CDC estimating that somewhere between 300,000 and 3,000,000 people are infected annual.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an illness that is spread to people by infected ticks. The illness causes flulike symptoms and a reddish-purple rash. This illness can quickly become very serious. Treatment needs to be started right away. When the illness is not treated right away, it can sometimes lead to long-term health problems or even death.

“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 is a bacterial infection caused by a spirochete, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgodorferi. Lyme disease is primarily transmitted through tick bites, there has been no reported cases of human to human transfer of Lyme disease. Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks are the typical carriers of the Lyme disease. The ticks can most primarily be found in wooded and grassy areas. Due to the fact these ticks are only the size of a poppy seed they usually go undetected when they bite. Once the tick is attached to the skin it can feed for several days; the longer the tick is attached the more likely Lyme disease will be transmitted. Lyme disease can affect any organ of the body including the brain, nervous system, muscles, joints, and even the heart. In some cases, if a pregnant woman develops Lyme disease it can pass on to the unborn child and in some cases stillbirth has occurred due to the disease.

Lyme disease is the most widely recognized tick-borne disease in the United States and Europe (Beard, 2016). Since the ticks that transmit Lyme disease are frequently encountered in backyards and recreational areas, a high level of public awareness and education should be made available to the general public for areas that have a high level of Lyme disease. From 2005 to 2014, a sum of 251,061 cases of Lyme disease was accounted for in the United States. In 2014, Lyme disease was the fifth most common reportable illness in the United States. Recent studies have shown about roughly 300,000 individuals are determined to have Lyme disease in the United States every year (Beard, 2016).

“Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks (Ixodes spp.). Early manifestations of infection include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. Left untreated, late manifestations involving the joints, heart, and nervous system can occur. A Healthy People 2010 objective (14-8) is to reduce the annual incidence of Lyme disease to 9.7 new cases per 100,000 population in 10 reference states where the disease is endemic (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin). This report summarizes surveillance data for 64,382 Lyme disease cases reported to CDC during 2003-2005, of which 59,770 cases (93%) were reported from the 10 reference states. The average annual rate in these 10 reference states for the 3-year period (29.2 cases per 100,000 population) was approximately three times the Healthy People 2010 target. Persons living in Lyme disease--endemic areas can take steps to reduce their risk for infection, including daily self-examination for ticks, selective use of acaricides and tick repellents, use of landscaping practices that reduce tick populations in yards and play areas, and avoidance of tick-infested areas.” (U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2007.)

That means that one-point-two to one-point-four percent of ticks are already carrying the bacteria that is known as Lyme Disease. Another way of thinking about how many ticks have this bacterium already is that fifty percent of the deer ticks in the eastern United States are infected with either Borrelia burgdorferi or Borrelia mayonii. One thing that is interesting is that ninety-five percent of the cases only occur in fourteen states, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. There are also neighboring areas that infected ticks have become a problem are those are Northern California, Oregon, and Washington