Why test ticks for Lyme Disease? Make a cheap, accurate test for Lyme disease in humans!
Jeez! Chasing ticks, c'mon, really, my f*ing intelligence is insulted by the suggestion.
At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
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Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#72Why test ticks for Lyme Disease? Make a cheap, accurate test for Lyme disease in humans ! Jeez! Chasing ticks, c'mon, really, my f*ing intelligence is insulted by the suggestion.
I think so that you can take antibiotics early and prevent actually getting Lyme disease.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#73Sign 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…
Can you explain how short grass on the perimeter helps?
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#74Great. Let's get working on preventing/curing alpha-gal allergy though. Or actually let's just eradicate all ticks.
I developed alpha-gal allergy. I've gotten many tick bites over the years, though none from 'lone star' tick afaik. I don't eat meat normally, so it was only a rare chance occasion when I ate something that triggered an allergic reaction: hives all over, tightness in the throat. It wasn't full anaphylaxis though, fortunately. After some research I thought it might be this allergy, but it wasn't until ~12 years later and an encounter with some pork dumplings which led to a similar reaction that I became convinced and got the blood test.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#75Sign 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…
The tick you're talking about here (hard to crush) is a wood tick, the types that carry lyme are deer ticks. They're much, much smaller. The size of a poppy seed.
Deer ticks are hard to crush too. And I'd say typically closer to the size of a sesame than a poppy seed. I like to pinch them between the tips of two fingernails, but lighting them on fire is also an enjoyable way to end them.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#76If not this, then what?
Like others, I was interested in the article because of Lyme and other diseases. Ticks really do suck.
I appreciate all the science-y comments though I understand very little. I appreciate comments about personal experiences with ticks, getting bitten, and getting sick.
I’m left with this: If this test is not really a viable solution (or at least one solution) to the problem of the unaffordability of visits to the doctor, what is a better solution. I would put all options on the table and move things like universal health care to the “working on it but not helpful right now” pile of solutions.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease#Vaccination
There was a link on HN some years ago which reported entering a phase-III trial for a vaccination created by one of the big pharma.
Downvoters shouldnt be allowed to vote if they cant use Google:
Here is the link for all downvoters :-D
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32465108
(Aug 2022, exactly what I said with "some years ago")
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#78Wow, 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…
It started around Connecticut in the 70s and has been spreading out radially since then. I believe it’s still not a huge problem in the western United States (there are other tick borne diseases there however). Soon it will spread across the world and tick bites will be serious business everywhere.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#79A really accurate blood test for tick borne disease would be much more useful that would allow you to know you have something in a time frame you could treat the diseases early.
Re: At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis
#80Wow, 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…
One thing pointing out is that deer aren’t really the disease reservoir for Lyme disease (it’s primarily mice) - but deer are key for tick population growth.