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At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#31

Post by Aurornis »

vintermann wrote: post #15
lokar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease#Vaccination

All those people who claimed to get autoimmune problems after the vaccine, must have been people who went to quite a bit of trouble to get the vaccine in the first place, so I'm not so sure it can all be written off as health panic.

Lyme disease has a long, storied history in alternative medicine and anti-vax communities. I would not be surprised if many of the people seeking the vaccine early were in those communities and entered with a distrust of vaccines, but thought the risk of Lyme disease outweighed their perceived risk of the vaccine. Once they got the vaccine they fixated on it as the source of their problems.

This exact pattern has been playing out with the COVID vaccine and the HPV vaccine. There are communities who are convinced that every medical problem they had since receiving the HPV vaccine is due to the vaccine, even though they’re all having different health problems that also occur in the overall population.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#32

Post by codingdave »

monster_truck wrote: post #6

Sign me up. Used to be a big Event Of The Year when my grandpa found one after spending all day out in their 'garden' (a few acres bordering deep woods). I remember being maybe 11 when he found one, let me try and figure out how to crush it, I couldn't. He showed me how to use the butt of a butterknife and leverage to get the fuckers I don't live anywhere near a proper forest and we've had several close calls this ye…

Getting a tick is no big event. It is just something that happens if you live near woods. I own a forest, and get ticks on occasion. Gross, but no big deal. Grab a tick-pulling tool and gently coax them out. Don't crush them or force them out with a blunt object, you are just as likely to tear their head off and leave it stuck in you, which just makes it more likely for you to get sick. Just remove them before 24 hours, and it is highly unlikely they'll give you a disease.

Ticks also get attached to humans in tall grass and forest edges, not from the trees. Walking through open fields is a more likely way to get a tick than walking through the woods, because that is where the deer sleep. They bed down in tall grass, and the ticks come along for the ride. So be wary of the grass, not the woods. As a matter of fact, the best thing you can do to keep ticks away from your home if you live out in the country is to keep 8-10 feet of grass cut really short at the perimeter of your property or wherever it meets the woods.

Young deer often walk towards people, too. They aren't born afraid of humans, and have natural instincts to freeze, not flee. So when their mama hides them, it is just as likely to be near humans, not in the woods with the coyotes. They'll learn the fear soon enough (definitely during hunting season), but until then they certainly have youthful curiosity.

Even so, "sign me up" is still a good answer. Home testing sounds great.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#33

Post by _puk »

KellyCriterion wrote: post #26
afavour wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a friend who got a tick bite on holiday in America many years ago. Turns out they got Lyme disease but no doctors in the UK were experienced with it so they dealt with years of misdiagnosis. I really hope any education effort can get out ahead of that.

Thats interesting, since there is a lot of research around face palsy & recovery in UK.

Yep.

About 20 years ago my gran got to the facial palsy stage of Lyme's before it was even considered and diagnosed by a visiting locum doctor who'd grown up in another country.

Antibiotics were given, her face recovered (albeit slowly).

It's a horrendous disease.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#34

Post by dermacentor »

codingdave wrote: post #32
monster_truck wrote: post #6

Sign me up. Used to be a big Event Of The Year when my grandpa found one after spending all day out in their 'garden' (a few acres bordering deep woods). I remember being maybe 11 when he found one, let me try and figure out how to crush it, I couldn't. He showed me how to use the butt of a butterknife and leverage to get the fuckers I don't live anywhere near a proper forest and we've had several close calls this ye…

Getting a tick is no big event. It is just something that happens if you live near woods. I own a forest, and get ticks on occasion. Gross, but no big deal. Grab a tick-pulling tool and gently coax them out. Don't crush them or force them out with a blunt object, you are just as likely to tear their head off and leave it stuck in you, which just makes it more likely for you to get sick. Just remove them before 24 hou…

Ticks can transmit Powassan and Heartland viruses within the first 15 minutes of a bite.

Still feeling cool, suave, experienced, and fearless?

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#35

Post by _puk »

codingdave wrote: post #32
monster_truck wrote: post #6

Sign me up. Used to be a big Event Of The Year when my grandpa found one after spending all day out in their 'garden' (a few acres bordering deep woods). I remember being maybe 11 when he found one, let me try and figure out how to crush it, I couldn't. He showed me how to use the butt of a butterknife and leverage to get the fuckers I don't live anywhere near a proper forest and we've had several close calls this ye…

Getting a tick is no big event. It is just something that happens if you live near woods. I own a forest, and get ticks on occasion. Gross, but no big deal. Grab a tick-pulling tool and gently coax them out. Don't crush them or force them out with a blunt object, you are just as likely to tear their head off and leave it stuck in you, which just makes it more likely for you to get sick. Just remove them before 24 hou…

I think you're being a bit strong with the "So be wary of the grass, not the woods"

In the trees they drop down on you from above. Had them do that many times.

The general consensus is to wear a hat when mushrooming in the places I've been.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#36

Post by bethekidyouwant »

dofm wrote: post #20
aliljet wrote: post #17

Does diagnosis offer a better prognosis for those that are infected?

Absolutely yes, because the most severe risks are associated with the bacteria reaching the heart and into the nervous system, which is a relatively slow process. There's a window of a couple of weeks. If you could know as soon as you were bitten whether there was any risk of infection at all, that would be very valuable information. I think it's only a one in ten chance that an infected tick would transmit the infec…

As long as you’re not getting bitten by a tick more than once a year if you do get bitten every time take the high dose antibiotic seems simple enough that’s what we do here at at least

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#37

Post by nephihaha »

CalRobert wrote: post #10
dofm wrote: post #2

Wow, this seems a pretty big deal. Here in the UK, Lyme traditionally been a marginal problem (tick bites aren't) but we now have such rapid climate change, along with rapidly increasing wild deer and boar populations, that some areas in the UK are becoming risk zones on more or less the same level of risk as some US regions. Alas the difference here is that education has not caught up to the USA: very few people hav…

Certainly had to convince my gp a few years ago that indeed there is Lyme in Ireland

It certainly exists in Scotland. Wouldn't surprise me if it got there.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#38

Post by lima »

dofm wrote: post #20
aliljet wrote: post #17

Does diagnosis offer a better prognosis for those that are infected?

Absolutely yes, because the most severe risks are associated with the bacteria reaching the heart and into the nervous system, which is a relatively slow process. There's a window of a couple of weeks. If you could know as soon as you were bitten whether there was any risk of infection at all, that would be very valuable information. I think it's only a one in ten chance that an infected tick would transmit the infec…

> But you would know whether you needed to even book an appointment.

Only if the test is sufficiently accurate to rule out transmission. Even molecular tests can't reliably predict that.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#39

Post by layla5alive »

lima wrote: post #25

Unfortunately, there are major issues with this approach. The vendor claims "lab-level accuracy" (conveniently omitting the actual accuracy numbers), but the test is a lateral flow test, which means its Limit of Detection is going to be orders of magnitude worse than molecular tests. Tick tests do not require FDA clearance, so their claims are most likely unreviewed. Existing lab tests for ticks are almost universall…

The standard isn't to avoid antibiotics until symptoms occur. The standard for a sufficiently attached deer tick in a high risk area is PEP:

Lyme post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a single dose of doxycycline (200 mg for adults, or weight-adjusted for children) taken within 72 hours of removing a high-risk blacklegged tick bite to prevent Lyme disease.

Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

#40

Post by lima »

_puk wrote: post #35
codingdave wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting a tick is no big event. It is just something that happens if you live near woods. I own a forest, and get ticks on occasion. Gross, but no big deal. Grab a tick-pulling tool and gently coax them out. Don't crush them or force them out with a blunt object, you are just as likely to tear their head off and leave it stuck in you, which just makes it more likely for you to get sick. Just remove them before 24 hou…

I think you're being a bit strong with the "So be wary of the grass, not the woods" In the trees they drop down on you from above. Had them do that many times. The general consensus is to wear a hat when mushrooming in the places I've been.

Ticks do not drop from trees.
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