Researching New Dangerous Tick Disease

Examined new dangerous tick disease

06/03/2014

It has long been known that ticks can transmit the dangerous diseases Lyme disease and TBE to humans. Researchers in Sweden are now investigating an infectious disease caused by bacteria discovered only in 2010. Particularly at risk are older people.

Especially dangerous for older people
It has long been known that ticks transmit the diseases Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Researchers in Sweden are now investigating an infectious disease caused by bacteria discovered only a few years ago in ticks. The newly discovered disease Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis, also called Neoehrlichia, was first described in 2010 and occurs in Asia and Europe. The study, which was conducted by the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg, shows that it is particularly dangerous for older patients or for those who take medication for immunosuppression. The results of the investigation were in the journal „Clinical Infectious Diseases“ released.

First confirmed case a few years ago
The bacterium Candidatus Neoehrlichia mikurensis was first identified in 1999 in ticks and rodents in Europe and Asia. Scientists around Dr. Guido Bloemberg from the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the University of Zurich confirmed in 2010, at the same time as colleagues from Sweden and Germany, the world's first human infection. To date, 19 cases have been registered throughout Europe, six of them in Sweden. The Sahlgrenksa scientists around Christine Wenneras now examined eleven of these cases more closely and came to the conclusion: „Those who had the highest risk of disease were older than 50, just had a blood disease or a rheumatic disease, and were treated with chemo or cortisone.“

Many doctors are not yet known
Symptoms of Neoehrlichia include fever, weight loss, general malaise, and muscle and joint pain. It can also cause dangerous thromboses, embolisms and aneurysms, ie vascular occlusions and leaks, as the disease also affects the blood vessels. Not yet clarified is the mechanism, how it comes to these serious clinical pictures and also not, what the bacterium in healthy humans can cause. Since the disease is still unknown to many doctors, misdiagnosis is very likely. Presumably, therefore, the real number of diseases is much higher.

Good with antibiotics to treat
Since Neehhrlichia can not be bred in a laboratory culture, the infection is difficult to diagnose. Genetic engineering succeeded in proving this. According to the scientists, the treatment of the infectious disease is simple overall. Thus, all symptoms completely disappeared after taking the antibiotic doxycycline. Rheumatologists, hematologists and oncologists should, according to the researchers, in the future have a focus on this potential, additional disease causing. And all those who notice a tick bite should consider the new discovered health risk as a possibility. (Ad)