Ticks in Montana

“Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 08:44:34 -0000
From: A-Lan Banks
Source: Billings Gazette, Montana [edited]



Mysterious tick disease afflicts Montana
-------------------------------------
Scientists believe an undiscovered Lyme disease-like illness is being
transmitted by wood ticks in Montana, particularly in the Yellowstone
River area from Livingston downstream to Forsyth. The bulls-eye
rash, fever, body aches, and lingering exhaustion caused by the
illness have stumped doctors for at least a decade, said State
Epidemiologist Todd Damrow. Local, state, and federal scientists are
now launching an effort to crack the mystery.

"We could have a new disease here, we just don't know right now,"
Damrow said. "We don't know how prevalent it is, how pervasive, or
even the nature of the illness. Those are questions we need to
address."

The state receives a "handful" of reports each year of unexplainable
illnesses believed to be caused by a tick bite, Damrow said. The
cases have been clustered in the Yellowstone River drainage, but
reports have also come in from both Helena and Missoula. In each
instance, Lyme disease has been ruled out, as has Rocky Mountain
Spotted Fever.

"As far as we can tell, these cases are fairly uncommon," Damrow
said. "We don't think it's a large epidemic, but you never know.
We've never followed it."

Antibiotics have been used successfully to treat recent cases
reported to the state. Damrow doesn't know whether the illness has
ever caused any deaths. "We've never looked. We have no way of
knowing. Even if someone died from it, the cause wouldn't show up on
the death certificate. There's no test for it," he said. "We also
have no idea whether, like Lyme disease, there are serious long-term
consequences."

A Former Yellowstone County Commissioner developed symptoms of the
illness 2 years ago, shortly after his wife spotted a tiny 8-legged
tick on his lower back. She plucked the tick off with a tweezers,
sealed it in a pill bottle and stashed the bottle in the freezer. A
few days later, he began feeling like he had the flu. The next
morning, a red rash the size of a silver dollar surrounded the bite.
He immediately went to see his physician. Lyme disease was suspected
and the tick sent off to Helena for testing.

[Though an] active person, after being bitten, the patient struggled
to find the energy to do basic tasks. "It felt like someone pulled
the plug and I was 2 quarts low," he said. It was even worse not
knowing what was wrong.

Although the microorganism that causes Lyme disease -- _Borrelia
burgdorferi_ -- was named after a Montana scientist, Willy
Burgdorfer, Montana is the only state in the nation where a case of
the disease has not been confirmed. The species of tick [_Ixodes
scapularis_ - Mod.LL] that carries Lyme disease also has never been
found in Montana.

State officials, including Damrow, were convinced the patient was
suffering from Lyme disease and had contracted it during a recent
visit to California. He insisted, however, he never did anything
during his brief stay to put him in contact with ticks. He maintained
the tick came from his heavily wooded 54-acre property south of
Billings. Ticks are common in the area, he said. Tests came back
negative for Lyme disease. The tick was then shipped to the
Vector-Borne Disease Unit of the Centers for Disease Control in Fort
Collins, Colorado, USA

Meanwhile, the patient was put on antibiotics. His physician
continued searching for answers. This wasn't the first time she had a
patient with unexplainable Lyme disease-like symptoms, She said. "I
think most of the physicians who practice in Montana have seen cases
like this."

5 months later, results came back from the CDC. Experimental DNA
analysis was used to search the gut contents of the tick, but nothing
conclusive could be found, according to the report. The tick was
identified as a Rocky Mountain wood tick [_Dermacentor andersoni_ -
Mod.LL], a species common to Montana and one that does not carry Lyme
disease. The affliction could not be identified, the report concluded.

Whatever it was, the disease no longer bothers the patient. "I've had
no ill-effects since they put me on medication," he said. His
physician hopes the new investigation will identify the source of the
disease and, eventually, lead to a test and a treatment. There have
been too many unexplained cases to shrug off, she said.

"I do think there's something to this," she said. "I'm glad they're
getting fired up over this."

Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton will help state and local
officials study suspected disease-bearing ticks. The federal lab was
founded in 1928 to study Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a tick-borne
illness that killed hundreds of settlers in Western Montana. In the
early 1980s, the lab also identified the spiral-shaped bacteria that
causes Lyme disease. The lab's specialized equipment will play a
vital role in finding the culprit behind Montana's mysterious
tick-borne illness. Damrow said he "strongly suspects" a cousin of
the Lyme disease-causing bacteria has adapted to Montana's tick
population.

"Unless we look, we'll never know," he said. "Who knows how much
health we could be protecting?"”

“That County Commissioner (Ziggy) who got bit is a friend of mine. He was a sick puppy for awhile. There are a bunch of ticks up where he lives and people's dogs are always getting covered with them in the spring. He lives in an area just on the edge of town with a lot of sagebrush and grass and it's loaded with ticks!”

“BLAME NEWGIRL!”

“way ta go newgirl....”

“I hate all forms of the insect world. I know they do us some good but I still hate them.”

“uhhmm....their not insects dood........they're in the mite family.



say waht you will about me but hey, i know my parasites....”

“Strat's right. They're animals in just like spiders.”

“survey says?


DING!



CRABS!”

“I hate crabs.”

“Blame Newgirl? Why am I the focus of your hate today people? LOL!”

“Time for a little KWEL Strat.”