Re: Lyme Transmission through a biting fly
- From: "BrentB" <borgersbrent@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 24 Jul 2006 10:44:10 -0700
john wrote:
I developed my Lyme rash ALSO from a biting fly. I remember the exact day
and time and saw and felt the fly biting me.
pictures of my bite -
http://world-news-forums.com/lyme.jpg
article on Lyme transmission through a biting fly -
http://cassia.org/library/N_Engl_J_Med_1990_Jun_14,322(24),1752.htm
Lyme disese, first described by Steere et al. in 1977,1 was identified as a
disease transmitted by the bite of ixodes ticks.2 Burgdorfer, Barbour, and
colleagues then isolated the infectious agent, a spirochete now known as
Borrelia burgdorferi.3 the spirochete has been shown to be transmitted by a
variety of ixodes ticks, including Ixodes dammini, I. ricinus, I. pacificus,
and I. persulcatus.4 B. burgdorferi has been identified in biting flies, and
there has been anecdotal mention of possible transmission of B. burgdorferi
by such flies. 5,6 This repost describes a case of Lyme disease transmitted
by a fly bite.
On July 10, 1989, while jogging with no shirt on, a 42-year-old man from
Old Lyme, Connecticut, an area in which Lyme disease is endemic, was
bothered by a large fly that he believed to be either a deerfly or a
horsefly. After swatting at it unsuccessfully, he was bitten by the fly
several times on the right side of the chest. The bites were acutely
painful. The area around the bites was swollen for one to two days; the
swelling then subsided. The patient was not aware of any tick bites in teh
previous three months. On July 23, he presented with classic erythema
migrans surrounding the bite area, headache, chills, fever, myalgias,
arthralgias, and fatigue.
The patient had a temperature of 37.2°C and a pulse of 76 per minute.
Examination disclosed a 16-cm by 11-cm rash (erythema migrans) on the right
side of the chest, with several small papular areas in it's center
consistent with fly bites No regional adenopathy was present, and no
cardiac, joint, or neurologic abnormalities were found. A diagnosis of Lyme
disease was made, and treatment was initiated with amoxicillin (500 mg three
times a day) and probenecid (500 mg three times a day) for 10 days. On the
first night after treatment the patient had a Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction,
with a fever and worsening of his headache and myalgias. At his 10- and 30-
day follow-up visits he was asymptomatic, and has remained well since.
Antibody titres to B. burgdorferi were determined by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assays in the acute phase and at the 10- and 30- day follow-up
visits. These analyses confirmed a more than four-fold rise in antibodies to
B. burgdorferi (Table 1). Results of other laboratory tests were within
normal limits.
The patient was bitten by a biting fly (an act he both saw and felt) and
subsequently presented with Lyme disease, with erthema migrans at the site
of the bite. Serologic testing confirmed a more than fourfold rise in
antibodies to B. burgdorferi. In contrast to the painless bite of I.
dammini, the bite of flies is painful and not likely to be overlooked by the
patient as a means of transmission of Lyme disease. I conclude that although
in most cases Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of ixodes ticks, it
may rarely be transmitted by biting flies.
It's a fact that flies, mosquitoes, mites,etc can carry borrelia. the
question becomes can they transmit it. The possibility / probability is
a real one although I it doesn't appear to be as easy as tick
transmission. What I would do is get oil of oregano and MSP on a gauze
and keep it on the infected area. While your at it take some in vivo.
should work.
Ticks and biting insects infected with the etiologic agent of Lyme
disease, Borrelia burgdorferi.
Magnarelli LA; Anderson JF
Department of Entomology, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment
Station, New Haven 06504.
J Clin Microbiol 1988 Aug;26(8):1482-6
"Groups of 113 field-collected
mosquitoes of Aedes canadensis and 43 Aedes stimulans were
placed in cages with uninfected Syrian hamsters. Of these, 11
females of both species contained B. burgdorferi and had fed fully
or partially from the hamsters. No spirochetes were isolated from
the hamsters, but antibodies were produced in one test animal."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Etiologic and epidemiologic questions posed by erythema
chronicum migrans and Lyme disease. Apropos of 4 cases at the
Regional Hospital Center, Rennes]
Questions etiologiques et epidemiologiques posees par l'erytheme
chronique migrant et la maladie de Lyme. A propos de 4
observations realisees au Centre Hospitalier Regional de Rennes.
[France]
Doby JM; Chastel C; Couatarmanac'h A; Cousanca C;
Chevrant-Breton J; Martin A; Legay B; Guiguen C
Bull Soc Pathol Exot Filiales 1985;78(4):512-25
"In only one
of the 4 cases, a tick-bite can be asserted, the role in the the
transmission of this kind of arthropods being strictly excluded in 2
of the 3 other cases (transmission likely by a mosquito and by a
biting fly (tabanid?)). The authors put the question of the
possibility of transmission, for erythema chronicum migrans and
Lyme disease, by arthropods other than ticks."
.
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