Deer Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Germs

Deer Ticks Carry Lyme Disease Germs.
People who go outdoors in several regions of the United States may have something else to care about. Scientists divulge that there's another troublesome bug hiding in the deer tick that already harbors the Lyme disease bacterium. There are indications that the source infects a few thousand Americans a year, potentially causing flu-like symptoms such as fever website. In one newly reported case, a the missis with existing medical problems appeared to have brain distension and dementia caused by an infection.

It is not clear, however, how serious of a threat may be posed by the germ. For the moment, Lyme cancer appears to be much more prevalent. And four other germs that affect humans steal in deer ticks natural. Still, scientists say the germ is cause for concern.

And "This would not be commonly picked up by any of the contemporary tests for Lyme disease," said Victor Berardi, co-author of one of two reports about the fount in the Jan 17, 2013 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The bacterium in ask is Borrelia miyamotoi and is found on deer ticks (also known as blacklegged ticks) in parts of the boondocks where Lyme disease is prevalent.

In 2011, Russian researchers reported that colonize there were infected by the bacterium, and the new reports have found that it has infected people in the United States as well. "We've known about this bacterium for a crave time - at least 10 years," said Sam Telford III, a professor of contagious disease at Tufts University in Medford, Mass, who co-authored the gunshot with Berardi.