hacked by p@3t_b@y for turks

News From Marriottsville / Sykesville / Woodstock
By Cassie Felch
mswnews@gmail.com
410-615-5632

Posted 8/20/09

Imagine preparing for an excursion and learning that your destination hosts an insidious parasite, difficult to see and frequently a carrier of disease. Furthermore, you cannot immunize yourself against the disease, which manifests itself through diverse symptoms and sometimes proves difficult to diagnose.

As cases of the disease skyrocket, you think twice about traveling to your location — Cambodia? Botswana? Ecuador?

No, not a developing country — how about your own backyard? The parasite in question is a black-legged tick or deer tick, the culprit behind Lyme disease. As explained in Heather Carney’s July 23 article in this publication, reported cases of Lyme disease have tripled countywide since 2006. For a primer on Lyme disease, click here.

Chances are, if you have not yet suffered from this ailment, you know someone who has. So what is the human toll of Lyme disease in our area?

Niklas Schnake, an 11-year-old Marriottsville resident, never saw a tick on his body and did not contract the textbook Lyme disease rash. His mother, Laura, explains that one evening in May 2008, Niklas suddenly panicked and exclaimed, “I can’t hear out of one ear!” A few moments later, he insisted he felt fine, but when he awakened the next morning, the left side of his face was paralyzed. Schnake says that “his eyelid wouldn’t close when he blinked, his nose drooped, and the corner of his mouth sagged.” Niklas’ doctor said that this condition, called Bell’s palsy, most frequently occurs in children as a result of Lyme disease.

However, Niklas’ first round of tests came back negative for Lyme and other disorders. He nevertheless began a course of antibiotics and underwent more testing two weeks later. This time, his results came back positive for Lyme disease, so he began an additional month of antibiotics. Even with the relatively quick diagnosis, the nerves in Niklas’ face did not return to normal for three or four months.

During his long recovery period, Niklas kept a fairly positive attitude, even joking about his paralysis, but at other times, he worried that he would never look normal again.

As his mom describes, “He couldn’t smile, couldn’t speak well, looked a bit odd, couldn’t drink without closing his lips with his fingers, couldn’t spit when he brushed his teeth, couldn’t play his (French) horn, and couldn’t blink. To keep his eye from drying out, he had to put drops in at night and tape it shut. His eye also watered constantly during the day since it couldn’t blink with the other eye.”

Niklas’ greatest joy upon full recovery was once again playing his French horn at West Friendship Elementary School and earning acceptance into the county Gifted and Talented band.

Ellicott City resident Janet Yingling, a paraeducator at West Friendship Elementary, developed Lyme disease in 2000 and, like Niklas, never saw a tick. Instead, she discovered a pimple-like bump on the back of her knee and experienced a fever and aches. Her physician diagnosed her with a case of the flu, but she did not improve and eventually developed a rash and Bell’s palsy.

After visits to two more doctors - a cardiologist and an infectious disease specialist — Yingling finally took a blood test for Lyme disease and received a correct diagnosis. All in all, she took three weeks of oral antibiotics and another three of intravenous antibiotics, after which she felt better. She considers herself healed and has never experienced another bout of the illness.

According to Ellicott City veterinarian Wendy Feaga, who contracted Lyme disease in 1977, doctors believe that cases diagnosed at the “tick-bite” stage demonstrate a 90-percent cure rate. However, since patients can contract Lyme disease multiple times, relapses and new cases sometimes prove indistinguishable, thus clouding the statistics.

Unfortunately, individuals in the late stages of the disease — those left undiagnosed or untreated for longer than 30 days — may never experience a cure. Like Feaga, who did not receive an accurate diagnosis for 12 years, these patients measure their progress in terms of “remission.”

Feaga emphasizes that Lyme disease threatens our health year-round. She says that “the adult (tick) emerges in large numbers in October and may be present during the winter months whenever there is a warm spell.” She further explains that even the most sensitive blood tests and spinal fluid tests can result in false negatives. Lyme disease can also mimic other illnesses, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, thus resulting in misdiagnosis.

Ellicott City dentist Bill DeLong, who resides in Marriottsville, feels shocked by the prevalence of Lyme disease among his patients, some of whom endure chronic and debilitating symptoms, such as hallucinations. He consequently appreciates the importance of diagnosing Lyme disease quickly.

Last year, when he developed an odd mark on his lower back, he immediately suspected a tick bite, so he scheduled an appointment with a Lyme-literate doctor and received prompt, successful treatment. However, DeLong understands that he must remain vigilant. He returned to his doctor this summer after experiencing another tick bite; but thankfully, this time he tested negative.

By now, many of us have heard tips for avoiding tick bites, but we cannot prevent Lyme disease via immunization. GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals tried introducing the LYMErix vaccine in 1999, but pulled it off the market in 2002 because of concerns about its safety and effectiveness. Ironically, one facet of Feaga’s job is administering the Fort Dodge LymeVax vaccine to dogs, which therefore have more protection against Lyme disease than do their owners.

For more information on Lyme disease, Feaga recommends looking up the work of Dr. Joseph Burrascano on the internet. DeLong recommends reading The Lyme Disease Solution by Baltimore area doctor Kenneth B. Singleton.

If you would like to share your experience with Lyme disease to promote greater awareness in our community, please contact me.

http://explorehoward.com/community/64616/reported-cases-lyme-disease-are-up-county/

Aug 28, 2009

SAO PAULO - IT MAY be one of nature’s repulsive little blood-sucking parasites, but the humble tick could yield a future cure for cancers of the skin, liver and pancreas, Brazilian researchers have discovered.

They have identified a protein in the saliva of a common South American tick, Amblyomma cajennense, that apparently reduces and can even eradicate cancerous cells while leaving healthy cells alone.

‘This is a radical innovation,’ said Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi, the molecular biologist at the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo who is leading the research.

‘The component of the saliva of this tick could be the cure for cancer,’ she told AFP.

She said she stumbled on the properties of the protein, called Factor X active, while testing the anti-coagulant properties of the tick’s saliva - the way it stops blood thickening and clotting so the tick can keep gorging itself on its host.

The protein shares some characteristics with a common anti-coagulant called TFPI (Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor), specifically a Kunitz-type inhibitor which also has been shown to interfere with cell growth.

A theory that the protein might have an effect on cancerous cells led to laboratory tests on cell cultures - which exceeded all expectations.

‘To our surprise it didn’t kill normal cells, which were also tested,’ Dr Chudzinski-Tavassi said. ‘But it did kill the tumorous cells that were being analysed.’ In her modest lab in the institute, housed in a rundown building, a line of immobile bloated ticks could be seen lined up with straws under their heads.

The small amounts of saliva captured that way was reproduced many times over in yeast vats so that tests could be carried out on lab rats with cancer.

The results have been more than promising.

‘If I treat every day for 14 days an animal’s tumour, a small tumour, this tumour doesn’t develop - it even regresses. The tumour mass shrinks. If I treat for 42 days, you totally eliminate the tumour,’ the scientist said — AFP.

STILL IN INFANCY
Producing a medicine from the find, though, will require years of clinical tests and a significant financial investment - neither of which Brazil is geared to provide.

Dr Chudzinski-Tavassi has applied for a patent on the tick protein, and is presenting her team’s discovery in medical journals and conferences around the world.

But she says moving beyond her lab ‘proof of concept’ will be frustratingly difficult.

‘To discover this is one thing. To turn it into a medicine is a whole other thing entirely,’ she said. — AFP
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_422406.html

27 August 2009

Scientists have tapped into nature’s medicine chest to develop a new drug that can control blood flow and prevent clotting, potentially preventing a stroke or heart attack.

The UK and Slovakian research team discovered and isolated an anticoagulant, or anti-clotting agent, from the salivary glands of ticks. They believe the ticks secrete the anticoagulant to keep their host’s blood flowing while they feed.

Recognising the potential for this natural anti-clotting agent, which they called Variegin, the researchers teamed up with experts in snake venom peptides from the National University of Singapore, who used chemical synthesis to reproduce Variegin and make it more potent.

‘By synthesising and modifying the anticoagulant our partners in Singapore were really able to understand how it works and to improve its functions,’ explains Professor Patricia Nuttall from the UK’s Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. ‘As well as enabling blood to flow freely, we may now be able to stop the effect so that clotting is restored. This is an important breakthrough as it will potentially enable the development of new blood-controlling drugs with a much better performance level - and therefore fewer adverse side effects - than some of those currently available.’

Snake venom expert Professor Manjunatha Kini at the National University of Singapore thinks that, although ticks have developed very potent and specific anti-clotting molecules that allow them to freely enjoy their blood-sucking lifestyle, there is still room for improvement. ‘By understanding how Variegin works we were able to reduce its size and at the same time improve its potency with suitable modifications,’ he says.

They now have molecules of different sizes, levels of potency and duration of effect. ‘One of the molecules has 70 times more potency and anti-clotting effect than a drug that is currently on the market,’ says the National University of Singapore’s Dr Cho Yeow Koh.

To test the performance of Variegin, the scientists carried out initial tests on zebrafish. They used a model established by Dr Pudur Jagadeeswaran from the University of North Texas to see if Variegin could prevent venous thrombosis - and subsequently be used to prevent deep vein thrombosis in humans.

‘The tests were a huge success and completely inhibited thrombus formation, ’says Nuttall. ‘We still have a long way to go but if we can get Variegin into clinical trials it could have potential applications for coronary diseases, deep-vein thrombosis and be applied during major surgery to control bleeding. There is also evidence that, by controlling blood flow and clotting, the spread of some cancers could be diminished or prevented.’

The team has filed patent applications to protect its development of the technology and is now taking steps to get Variegin out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. It is the subject of an international agreement between the Natural Environment Research Council, the National University of Singapore and the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=518

Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) may present as meningitis, cranial neuropathy, acute radiculoneuropathy or, rarely, as encephalomyelitis. We hypothesized that glia, upon exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent, produce inflammatory mediators that promote the acute cellular infiltration of early LNB.

This inflammatory context could potentiate glial and neuronal apoptosis.

Methods: We inoculated live B.burgdorferi into the cisterna magna of rhesus macaques and examined the inflammatory changes induced in the central nervous system (CNS), and dorsal root nerves and ganglia (DRG).

Results: ELISA of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed elevated IL-6, IL-8, CCL2, and CXCL13 as early as one week post-inoculation, accompanied by primarily lymphocytic and monocytic pleocytosis.

In contrast, onset of the acquired immune response, evidenced by anti-B. burgdorferi C6 serum antibodies, was first detectable after 3 weeks post-inoculation.

CSF cell pellets and CNS tissues were culture-positive for B. burgdorferi.

Histopathology revealed signs of acute LNB: severe multifocal leptomeningitis, radiculitis, and DRG inflammatory lesions. Immunofluorescence staining and confocal microscopy detected B.burgdorferi antigen in the CNS and DRG. IL-6 was observed in astrocytes and neurons in the spinal cord, and in neurons in the DRG of infected animals.

CCL2 and CXCL13 were found in microglia as well as in endothelial cells, macrophages and T cells. Importantly, the DRG of infected animals showed significant satellite cell and neuronal apoptosis.

Conclusions: Our results support the notion that innate responses of glia to B. burgdorferi initiate/mediate the inflammation seen in acute LNB, and show that neuronal apoptosis occurs in this context.

Author: Geeta RameshJuan BordaAmy GillErin RibkaLisa MoriciPeter MottramDale MartinMary JacobsPeter DidierMario Philipp
Credits/Source: Journal of Neuroinflammation 2009, 6:23

http://7thspace.com/headlines/318076/possible_role_of_glial_cells_in_the_onset_and_progression_of_lyme_neuroborreliosis.html

Vol 118 No 1227 ISSN 1175 8716
NZMJ 16 December 2005, Vol 118 No 1227 Page 1 of 10

Robin Mihrshahi, Robyn Beirman

Abstract
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disease of uncertain aetiology that is
characterised by unexplained, severe fatigue associated with a number of typical
symptoms. This paper reviews the scientific literature related to current theories about
the aetiology and pathogenesis of CFS by focussing on what appear to be the four
most significant aspects in the development and perpetuation of this disease: the role
of infectious agents as well as immunological, neuroendocrine, and psychiatric
factors. A multifactorial model for the aetiology of CFS, which includes and draws
together these four aspects, is proposed; and suggestions are offered regarding
approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

To read full article: CLICK HERE

By Bruce Pannier
What should have been cause for celebration has instead come to signify the very real threat posed by a tick-borne virus that is making its deadly return to Central Asia.

In late June, 23-year-old Shokhida Ismailova gave birth to her second child at a hospital in the Turkistan district of Kazakhstan’s southernmost South Kazakhstan Province.

But ensuing complications and surgeries led to more complications and surgeries. Within a few weeks Ismailova, her newborn, two surgeons, and a pediatrician at the hospital were dead.

Ismailova had contracted Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever from a tick that latched on to her in her home. Breast-feeding in turn transmitted the disease to her newborn. Continued bleeding that required two operations after her delivery spread the disease to the surgeons, and the pediatrician got it from the baby.

At least one other person in Kazakhstan has died of the fever in recent months, and many more are believed to have been infected.

The outbreak is even worse in Tajikistan, where tens are believed to have died this summer, including physicians, and the number of those infected could number in the hundreds.

Signs Of Panic

Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever gets its name from its discovery in the Crimea in the 1940s, and subsequent outbreak in the Congo in the late ’60s. The disease is carried by ticks, which often live off wild and domesticated animals, and has been found in Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, parts of China, and Central Asia.

Predictably, news of the latest spread of Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever in Central Asia has caused panic in some areas.

Sadbarg Kamolova, a resident of Tajikistan’s southern Temurmalik district, in the Kulob region, gave this account of the fears that enveloped her family when a relative became ill after reports of a nearby outbreak of hemorrhagic fever.

“All our family members were in trouble when my uncle felt ill. He has some cows and sheep. Thank God, the results were negative,” she said. “Everyone in our village is engaged in agriculture and is very concerned. Already the illness is widespread in the neighboring village.”

In early August, 24 people were reported to have died of Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever in the western Tursunzade area within a two-day period. Witnesses cited in the report said the town was under quarantine and surrounded by law-enforcement officials.

Following a request from the Tajik government, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped in to help.

As reports surfaced that four infected people in Kulob were recovering from the fever, WHO and Tajik officials held a joint seminar on August 24 to inform locals about preventive measures they can take.

“A group of three consultants from the WHO arrived in the country to assist us on diagnostics, cures, and preventive measures at the sources of the epidemic, and to evaluate what has been done by Tajik Health Ministry specialists,” said Tajik Deputy Health Minister Aazam Mirzoev. “They will share with us their own vision and solutions where needed, and evaluate where and what kind of aid could be helpful.”

Mild And Severe Cases

Dr. Pierre Rollin, acting chief of the Special Pathogens Branch at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, told RFE/RL that Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever is no stranger to Central Asia.

“This virus has been known in this area for decades; it’s not a new virus,” Rollin said. “This virus has been described there in the 1940s, 1950s, so every year there is some that pops up here and there. There are two ways to be infected — from ticks or from contact with [the blood of] the patient.”

Stressing that one would have to come into contact with the blood of an infected person to contract the virus from a human, Rollin explained that different people can react in different ways to the virus.

Sometimes, “the disease can be very mild,” Rollin said. “We don’t know why there is mild disease and severe disease. Some get fever like a flu and it goes away in a few days and people recover.”

In severe cases, however, the patient can hemorrhage under the skin and or internally. This is usually accompanied by very high fever. These symptoms are particularly dangerous, Rollin said, “if it is digestive bleeding, vomiting or diarrhea with blood, and in that case the prognosis is not very good, and the patient should be kept under very good care.”

Rollin stressed that the virus cannot be passed by eating the meat of an animal that had an infected tick on it. “The animal may be infected with the virus but have no sign, no symptom, and the virus is really not in the meat,” he said.

Precautionary Measures

So what can people in areas where the infection already exists do to limit the possibility of becoming infected?

“They should limit the number of people who are in contact with the patient, and then they should use gloves, or if you have to touch something that could be infectious, you can put on a plastic bag if you don’t have a glove,” Rollin explains. “Bleach will destroy the virus; any detergent will destroy the virus. So for example, say you have a patient that had some bleeding and you want to take care of the bed sheets, to clean them, you should use a plastic bag to remove them or put them in a bucket of water and bleach and leave it for 30 minutes or an hour and that will destroy the virus.”

Rollin continued: “Be sure to clean all the instruments that have been used, all the tables, spoons, forks they used when they ate, all the glasses that the patient has used to drink. Disinfect it; water with bleach will destroy the virus; detergent will destroy the virus.”

Rollin also stressed the importance of basic hygiene.

“Using soap, washing one’s hands very often is effective at destroying any virus that is on the skin,” he said. “We don’t think the virus can penetrate the skin…so wash your hands as often as you can with detergent or soap and it will be good.”

Rural areas in Central Asia are often far from the nearest medical center, meaning it could take hours, or days, before someone infected with the fever can be brought to a hospital.

Rollin emphasizes the need for speed in getting an infected person to a medical facility. He gave the following tips for helping someone who has contracted the disease in the interval before they can receive medical care.

Infected “people bleed and have diarrhea, and they are going to lose a lot of water, so [others] should keep giving liquid to the patient. Try to avoid giving aspirin, for example, as that will cause more bleeding. They should try to contact healthcare” services as soon as possible, he said. “And again, if you have a case in the family, that means most likely this individual has been bitten by a tick that has been infected, so people should really pay attention to ticks in this area.”

Rollin says that anyone bringing a potentially infected person to a medical center should inform healthcare officials immediately about contact or suspected contact with ticks, so medical staff can take the appropriate precautions.

And he said people in these rural areas should check themselves and their clothes often, especially before entering their homes, to be sure they do not have any ticks on them.

RFE/RL Kazakh Service director Edige Magauin and Salimjon Aioubov and Iskander Aliev of RFE/RL’s Tajik Service contributed to this report.

http://www.rferl.org/content/CongoCrimean_Hemorrhagic_Fever_Takes_A_Deadly_Toll_In_Central_Asia/1806599.html

By Jeff Morganteen
Staff Writer
Updated: 08/18/2009 11:54:07 PM EDT

STAMFORD – State entomologists say they found bird and dust mites in the Stamford Police Department, but no ticks.

Their findings are in contrast to claims from the police officers’ union that at least four department employees tested positive for Lyme disease because of deer tick bites suffered in the department, the result of an apparent insect infestation from birds nesting in the building’s facade.

In birds’ nest samples taken from a vent in the police department two weeks ago, insect experts found northern fowl mites and American house dust mites, says a final report prepared by state entomologist Gale Ridge of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven. Neither insects are known to carry Lyme disease, she said.

“I just stated the facts, and these mites do not carry Lyme disease, and that is the most important point in the situation here,” Ridge said in an interview.

Police Sgt. Joseph Kennedy, president of the Stamford Police Association, said he doesn’t believe the report. Last month he filed a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, saying deer ticks, bird mites and spiders infested the department after nesting birds brought them inside.

“I’m not putting any credibility into that report,” Kennedy said of the state entomologists’ findings. “I’ve got four people in the department with Lyme disease. There’s 300 people in the department. They didn’t all go camping together.”

Kennedy said the numbers of officers testing positive for Lyme could be as high as seven.

The city’s worker’s compensation medical provider, meanwhile, drew blood from 117 officers during the past few days and awaits confirmation whether any tested positive for Lyme disease.

The city will treat the confirmed cases, but not take responsibility for any diseases, Director of Administration Sandra Dennies said.

Dennies said the city has no confirmed cases of Lyme disease.

State entomologists said the birds — they haven’t confirmed which species they are — brought mites into the police department after their young hatched and left their nests. Stranded mites tried to find another bird and wandered into the area where police officers worked, Ridge said.

In a natural hunt for another bird, the mites will probe human skin, but won’t bite, Ridge said. The probing leaves red marks, but the mites can’t break human skin. Without birds around, the mites starve to death within a few weeks, Ridge said.

Chief State Entomologist Kirby Stafford said Lyme-carrying deer ticks sometimes infect birds, but usually only in rural areas. Stamford seems too urban for its birds to pick up deer ticks, he said.

Stafford also said Fairfield County has a high rate of Lyme disease. Connecticut also has the highest incidence of Lyme disease in the nation, according to 2007 data from the federal Centers for Disease Control.

“Lyme disease is pretty common throughout Stamford and Fairfield County, so it’s not at all surprising that people or cases would be diagnosed,” Stafford said.

Staff Writer Jeff Morganteen can be reached at jeff.morganteen@scni.com or 203-964-2215.

http://www.connpost.com/ci_13154813?source=most_emailed

Traditionally, teachers in many Long Island elementary schools incubate chicken or duck eggs in the classroom so children may learn about their life cycles, culminating in their hatching in the spring. 

Teachers in the North Bellmore Elementary School District recently took a different approach. They switched from chicks to bobwhite quail. The baby birds were released into a wildlife preserve this summer as part of an initiative designed to help keep a growing tick population in check on Long Island. The North Bellmore District takes in students from North Bellmore and North Merrick.

“Quail? Ticks? You might be wondering, what’s the connection?” said Lauren LoBello, kindergarten teacher at John Dinkelmeyer Elementary School. “Quite simply put, quail eat ticks.”

LoBello’s students, with their fourth- and fifth-grade buddies, as well as children in several other classes in schools within the North Bellmore district, joined in the battle against Long Island’s growing, Lyme-disease spreading tick population by overseeing the incubation and hatching one of the tick’s natural predators, bobwhite quail. Then, late last month, a number of them took time out during their summer to free the quail at the 543-acre Caleb Smith State Park Preserve in Smithtown.

The North Bellmore Educational Foundation provided the funding to purchase 200 bobwhite quail eggs and incubation supplies for use in 10 classrooms throughout the six schools in the district. The school district encompasses Dinkelmeyer School and four others located in North Bellmore and one in North Merrick.

“In an effort to involve the larger school community, kindergartners were paired with fourth- or fifth-grade students to complete a wide variety of interdisciplinary activities,” Lo Bello explained.

The bobwhite quail reintroduction initiative, in which 16 schools now participate island-wide, is the brainchild of environmental educator Eric Powers of the Western Suffolk BOCES Outdoor/Environmental Education Program.

About eight years ago, Powers noticed greater numbers of ticks on the students he led on nature hikes through the Caleb Preserve. At that time, at what he calls the “peak of tick madness on Long Island,” he found 40 ticks on a group of 25 kids one day, and at least one on every child on an average day. “The tick population was out of control,” he said. “What is out of balance here? I asked. Something in the ecosystem is out of balance.”

Powers took an inventory of the wildlife in the preserve and realized that the tick’s natural predators were missing. “We had lost our species of ground nesting birds. Ground nesting game birds such as grouse and bobwhite quail eat ticks and other insects,” he said.

Powers soon figured out how this had happened. “The preserve is surrounded by houses,” Powers said. “Invariably, people let their housecats out. And there are feral cats also. Cats are the [birds’] predators. And the same pattern is happening at all of our parks.”

Powers could do little to change cat or cat owner behavior. Instead, he set out to find a way to introduce a sufficient number of ground nesting birds into the disrupted ecosystem, hoping to restore its balance. As an educator, he hit upon a way to do this when he remembered that chick and duck egg incubation projects were part of many elementary classroom biology lessons. Since there is no need for baby chickens or ducklings, they are usually destroyed. Powers’s plan solved that issue also.

Now, every April or May, increasing numbers of Long Island elementary school teachers buy quail eggs and incubate them. Over two to three weeks, the children watch the quail embryos develop, shining flashlights to see inside the eggs, and otherwise caring for and examining them as they develop in the classroom until the baby birds hatch.

“Through this experience, the students in North Bellmore have learned about the life cycle and development of quail through authentic and hands-on experiences,” Lo Bello said, raving about how excited the students were about raising the young birds. “The project gave the children an opportunity to care for live animals in a respectful way.”

Newly hatched quail need to be removed within days or they start to fly, so they are brought to the preserve where Powers, together with a group of environmentally concerned volunteers, care for them until they are about eight to 10 weeks old. Powers then schedules their release date, usually in late July. He notifies the teachers who invite any interested children and their parents to witness the event, which is also open to the public.

About 50 students came to the preserve with their teachers this summer and set free about 500 small brown birds. The students included kindergartners from LoBello’s class and from Robin Obey’s class at Park Avenue School in North Merrick, as well as older children.

LoBello said her students were thrilled when their birds were released. “When the students are very young children, kindergartners for example,” Powers added, “we designate a group of quail to their class and tell them these are their quail, and give them their own place to release the birds.”

Although few quail make it through to the next spring because of the continuing cat problem, Powers considers the program a success. “What I love about this program,” Powers said, “is it gets so many people involved in nature, in the complex web of life on Long Island.”

“Now it’s difficult to find a tick on children after they hike in the park,” he remarked. His re-population efforts will continue each spring. When asked what he would do if more schools started raising quail and he had more than 500 to release next summer, he said, “I would love to have that problem.”

Comments about this story? nhiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
 
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20361690&BRD=1601&PAG=461&dept_id=478673&rfi=6

Lucy Gilbert

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, AB31 8QH, UK

Received: 15 April 2009  Accepted: 24 July 2009  Published online: 15 August 2009

Communicated by R. Brandl.
Abstract  The impact of climate change on vector-borne infectious diseases is currently controversial. In Europe the primary arthropod vectors of zoonotic diseases are ticks, which transmit Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (the agent of Lyme disease), tick-borne encephalitis virus and louping ill virus between humans, livestock and wildlife. Ixodes ricinus ticks and reported tick-borne disease cases are currently increasing in the UK. Theories for this include climate change and increasing host abundance. This study aimed to test how I. ricinus tick abundance might be influenced by climate change in Scotland by using altitudinal gradients as a proxy, while also taking into account the effects of hosts, vegetation and weather effects. It was predicted that tick abundance would be higher at lower altitudes (i.e. warmer climates) and increase with host abundance. Surveys were conducted on nine hills in Scotland, all of open moorland habitat. Tick abundance was positively associated with deer abundance, but even after taking this into account, there was a strong negative association of ticks with altitude. This was probably a real climate effect, with temperature (and humidity, i.e. saturation deficit) most likely playing an important role. It could be inferred that ticks may become more abundant at higher altitudes in response to climate warming. This has potential implications for pathogen prevalence such as louping ill virus if tick numbers increase at elevations where competent transmission hosts (red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus and mountain hares Lepus timidus) occur in higher numbers.

Keywords   Ixodes ricinus  - Louping ill virus - Lyme disease - Deer - Elevation
Lucy Gilbert
Email: l.gilbert@macaulay.ac.uk

http://www.springerlink.com/content/g6357647314303l4/

Acta Clin Belg. 2009 May-Jun;64(3):225-7.
De Cauwer H, Declerck S, De Smet J, Matthyssen P, Pelzers E, Eykens L, Lagrou K.
Department of Neurology, Klina Regional Hospital, Brasschaat, Belgium. harald.de.cauwer@klina.be

A variety of neurological syndromes has been described in neuroborreliosis: cranial nerve palsies, radiculopathy, axonal neuropathy, stroke, parkinsonism, transverse myelitis, supranuclear palsy, Guillain-Barré syndrome, … We report a case of neuroborreliosis with cervical myelitis presenting clinically as a lower motor neuron syndrome of the upper and lower limbs with proximal and distal pareses and atrophies as well as bulbar dysarthria and dysphagia. During the course of the disease the patient developed the clinical picture of a meningoencephalitis. After initiating ceftriaxone treatment the patient showed a complete recovery. In endemic regions for Lyme disease, in all neurological syndromes neuroborreliosis has to be excluded.

PMID: 19670562 [PubMed - in process]