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 misgiving about. Scientists detonation that there's another troublesome root hiding in the deer tick that already harbors the Lyme disease bacterium. There are indications that the basis infects a few thousand Americans a year, potentially causing flu-like symptoms such as fever. In one newly reported case, a baggage with existing medical problems appeared to have brain bump 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 malady appears to be much more prevalent. And four other germs that affect humans lie low in deer ticks. Still, scientists say the germ is cause for concern.

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

In 2011, Russian researchers reported that tribe 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 prolonged time - at least 10 years," said Sam Telford III, a professor of transmissible disease at Tufts University in Medford, Mass, who co-authored the on with Berardi.