Study warns that ticks with Lyme are emerging earlier in spring

Commentary: Global warming is having an effect on ticks. A new study from the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies in Millbrook was released this week, that due to global warming trends, ticks with Lyme disease and co-infections are emerging earlier in the spring. The ticks have 3 life cycles: larvae, nymphs, and adults, and the article states that nymphal ticks pose a greater risk than larvae, since larval ticks do not contain Borrelia burgdorferi. It has been shown however that adult female ticks can transmit other borrelia species to their larvae, such as Borrelia miyamotoi, the relapsing fever spirochete. Borrelia miyamotoi is the first borrelia species to be transmitted transovarially, and 6-73% of the larvae from infected female deer ticks have been shown to be infected. The incubation period for relapsing fever is usually 5-15 days, and has an acute onset with non-specific symptoms which could be confused with a viral infection, including high fevers (up to 104) with chills and sweats, headaches, muscle and joint pains, and nausea, vomiting and a cough. Symptoms typically last 2-9 days and then recur. Any severe “flu-like illness” which recurs should raise the clinical suspicion of a tick-borne disorder like relapsing fever. I discuss tick-borne relapsing fever spirochetes, Borrelia hemsii and Borrelia miyamotoi, on pages 124-126 of my book “Why Can’t I Get Better?”.

Study warns that ticks with Lyme are emerging earlier in spring, by John Ferro, Poughkeepsie Journal