Lyme disease: its hosts and vectors

John D. Scott · Joined: 02 Jan 2006 Posts: 1

I am pleased to see the article (alive, September 2005) on Lyme disease; however, it has information that is inaccurate and out-of-date. The “deer tick (Ixodes Dammini)” [sic] is officially a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, as documented by tick experts (Oliver et al., 1993). This tick species is found in the central and eastern part of North America. The western blacklegged tick, Ixodes pacificus, equally as important, is found in far-western North America, and it also transmits the Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi.

Contrary to the statement, “mosquitoes, sand flies, mites, and fleas are hosts,” they are not hosts. A few of these tiny fauna have been shown to harbour the Lye bacterium, but more research is needed to actually show that they transmit it. Actually, certain mammals and birds are the hosts—ticks are the vectors.

None of the arthropods that are illustrated on pages 76 and 78 are ticks—rather deceiving. In fact, they are all insects. For tick removal, tweezers should be fine-pointed to minimize regurgitation of tick fluids into the patient.

Our research has shown that songbirds are involved in the dispersal of immature (larva, nymph) blacklegged ticks, and birds can transport them to nonendemic areas of southern Canada particularly during migratory flight. Therefore, dogs, cats, and humans can contract Lyme disease in nonendemic areas of Canada. Recently, our research has been published in the Journal of Parasitology, 2005, issue #4.

We have not been able to substantiate colloidal silver, bee venom, artemsia, herbal extract, and Cat’s Claw (TOA-free), which were mentioned in the above alive article, as successful treatments for Lyme disease. Borrelia burgdorferi avoids the body’s immune system because it sequesters and hides in the eye, ligament, and brain.