Maine is seeing record numbers of a disease carried by ticks that doesn’t get as much attention as Lyme, but can be just as dangerous.
So far this year, 38 cases of the bacterial infection anaplasmosis have been reported in Maine, according to a Thursday alert from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than all of 2011, when Maine had 26 cases of the disease.
The infection is caused by a germ called Anaplasma phagocytophilum.
“Everybody’s heard about Lyme disease but they maybe haven’t heard about anaplasma,” said Dr. Stephen Sears, state epidemiologist.
Carried by the same deer tick as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis is no longer rare in Maine like it was a few years ago, he said.
“It seems to be increasing not only in the numbers but in its distribution,” Sears said. “It’s being seen a little farther up the coast and a little deeper into the interior sections.”
Anaplasmosis has been found in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Somerset and York counties so far this year. Other parts of the country that have high rates of Lyme disease are also seeing anaplasmosis on the rise, Sears said.
Some ticks can carry both anaplasma and Lyme, as well as another less common disease called babesiosis.
While the drug treatment for anaplasmosis is similar to the treatment for Lyme disease, the infection doesn’t cause Lyme’s hallmark bull’s eye rash, Sears said. It’s a different organism that leads to severe flu-like symptoms, such as body aches, fever and headache, he said.
The disease can be diagnosed through a blood test, and the sooner sufferers get treatment, the better, Sears said. Anaplasma lives in white blood cells, causing all-over discomfort as the cells circulate through the body, he said. Symptoms typically appear within one to two weeks of a tick bite.
The disease can be serious in people with weak immune systems, he said.
Most anaplasmosis occurs in the late summer and fall, so cases are predicted to keep rising, he said.
“We’re expecting that this is going to be a pretty big year, so we want to get the word out,” Sears said.
AARRGH! We’re all gonna die!!!
That is a fact.
spider removed from woman’s ear in China (Peoples Republic)
OMG
Maine would be wise to consider controlled burns. Restores pine, reduces ticks and disease.
That’s a good idea. First we should start by burning Lyme, CT :)
hates everything south of Bangor, I see.
whatever
It started at Plum Island…
In the old days people would burn their fields to control ticks and keep the grass short. Maybe we should go back to some of the old ways.
Very wise suggestion!
And what are our fine researchers doing about it?
Probably as little about it as they are for a cure for cancer and other diseases but thankfully we have 100 new pills on the market for erectile dysfunction
All you die hard environmentalists are gonna have your heads explode of my suggestion but BRING BACK DDT…these critters are getting out of hand and personally a two or three headed bird flying by wouldn’t be so bad if the mosquitoes and ticks met with a hard death
Brilliant, more Cancer = a decrease in Anaplasmosis and Lyme Disease-Houlton must surely be proud
Yepp we be proud.
controlled burning works better, less harm, more benefits.
I’d like to know how they track where Lyme disease has been found? I had a tick on me a year ago and was told to go to the emergency room at my local hospital because my primary care doctor didn’t have the appropriate tools to remove it!! REALLY, a pair of tweezers? Anyway, I go and the PA said it was a deer tick and it had been on me for at least 24 hours by the size of it! He then proceeds to remove it and puts it in a jar and gives it to my husband. I was informed that they don’t send them away to be tested to see if they do have Lyme disease because the state lab is overwhelmed! He gave me an antibiotic pill and said if I notice a bullseye rash to come back immediatly! So I guess my question is…where do they come up with their statistics on where the disease really is?
FYI, The state lab will test any deer tick that is brought to them.
it’s not Lyme’s Disease. It’s named after a town, not a person. Lyme Disease.
I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that. Ha Ha LOL
The deer are the problem. Rule of thumb: if you see deer, watch out for deer ticks which infect us with not only Lyme disease but also babesiosis and anaplasmosis which can be fatal. The areas which have an overpopulation of deer are the same areas which are dangerous due to these diseases. This is because deer host adult egg-laying ticks which must feed on a sizeable mammal; they will not feed on a rodent. The experts recommend lowering the deer population to 6-8 deer per square mile in order to reduce the tick density.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/06/22/health/foxes-not-deer-may-hold-key-to-rise-in-lyme-disease/?ref=relatedBox
Nice job,Lepage…
scarey
The fox study has been refuted by Yale Professor Maria Diuk-Wasser. Speaking on NPR’s “On Point” 7/3/12 with Tom Ashbrook, Dr. Diuk-Wasser pointed out that there was no actual field data. The deer-huggers are constantly trying to deny the deer’s key role. Yet 90-95% of tick eggs are produced by ticks on deer. In fact, ticks from one deer produce at least 450,000 tick eggs per season. This is why lowering deer density from, for instance, 50 per square mile to 25 per square mile is insufficient: there are still too many deer ticks. The mice themselves can be infected but unless there are ticks present, we will not get infected. On Monhegan Island they ended their Lyme epidemic by removing the deer. The rodents are still there.
If people would STOP feeding the birds, maybe they would do their job and eat the insects like they are supposed to do! Invest in chickens…. They eat them
These are real nasty little creatures, Ive cut wood all over new england, most of the loggers in southern new england have lyme disease, my brother from ft kents got it, he has to take massive doses of antibiotics at least once a year. Iv’e been bit 9 times but never got lyme disease. I did end up with a heart pacemaker, happened overnight, the doctors told me theres a study being done finding that alot of people being bit are getting heart block, it kills the electric function we all have in our hearts. were damn lucky these things haven’t made it to the northern part of the state yet, don’t think they can take the extreme cold, they are named after lyme connecticut, if you look at a map you’ll see right across from there on long island theres a little island called plumb island, alot of government reasearch going on there,makes you wonder?
If you look at a map of deer density in Maine, it is the same as Lyme disease density. In Northern Maine there are very few deer per square mile and thus very little Lyme disease. Ticks can be active if the temperature is above freezing. When enough people suffer brain damage, crippling arthritis, heart block and other Lyme complications, perhaps we’ll finally go after the disease-spreading deer.
Alexander these nasty things go after anything with blood, from deer, rabbits, birds,pets,rodents and us, my thoughts of why they aren’t in the north woods yet is the extreme cold, I could tell you personal stories of seeing them in the winter down south, trees covered with them, while walking a timber sale in eastern Connecticut the forester, myself and my crew must have pulled 100 off of us,and that was in December several years ago, my brother is still down there cutting wood, hes told me its gotten much worse with the mild winters, these things are real bad news, I got full heart block because of being bitten many times, I always dreaded the day I would hear they were coming north. don’t know what its going to take to stop them, if your in the woods check your clothes, boots ,etc, some are so small you can just about see them, ive seen them on a dog that were as big as grapes, full of blood.
Unlike mosquitoes, ticks are not killed by a frost. They just lay low until temp is above freezing and then become active again. The solution to the problem is going after the deer which are the primary source of deer ticks. Tragically the fanatic deer-huggers have successfully opposed this since they care more for animals than people. In Massachusetts they protested the thinning of deer populations which were causing soil erosion and endangering the drinking water supply at Quabbin reservoir. They chained themselves to government office radiators. The health of human beings is not important to them.
My son was tested for Lyme disease and it came back negative.The doctor thinks it was a false negative because he had a weird rash under his arms. he was treated for Lyme disease. He was tired and had stiff joints.That was just a couple months ago.
Amy I hope your sons doing better, it takes strong antibiotics to deal with this illness, I know many people that have it, being tired and stiff joints are symptoms, alot of the people I know didn’t get the red bulls eye around the bite, this disease goes away but sometimes it comes back, you have to re dose with more antibiotics, my brother has it, it comes back once a year on him and hes one rugged wood cutter. these little things are nasty, I’ve dealt with these things for over 20 years. if you have pets outside check them over good,underarms, ears,places that the animal can’t scratch.
In this short (one minute) video, Chief Entomologist Kirby Stafford of the CT Agricultural Experiment Station explains the key role of deer in spreading these diseases.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_fNtkOLdvc