Ravalli County Study Indicates Lyme Contracted in Montana

Posted on by Angela D

Many Montanans know that contracting Lyme in Montana is rare but possible.  Either through knowledge of pathogens and vectors, disease ecology, or personal experience with Lyme disease.

I am quite ‘biased’ on the matter, having contracted Lyme disease.  Multiple patients, some of whom have shared their stories here (with multiple more ready and willing to share with media to raise awareness) share this bias and this experience.

This study examines self reported cases — a beginning step patients feel should be taken by state health agencies immediately.

The results are in: Group releases findings of Lyme disease study in Ravalli County

Concluding their study, the team recommends: 1. establishing a statewide tick surveillance program to discover what ticks reside in Montana and what pathological agents they carry; 2. assuring that state-of-the-art two tier testing for Lyme disease is available and that healthcare providers know of it; 3. encouraging health-care providers to include Lyme disease in the differential diagnosis of the patient with symptoms of the disorder; and 4. participation in meaningful and related research.

News Release (Link) ~ Public Health Agency of Canada launches public consultation on Lyme disease

Posted on by Angela D

News Release

June 1, 2015 – Ottawa, ON – Public Health Agency of Canada

Today, the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Gregory Taylor launched a consultation process to support the development of a Federal Framework on Lyme Disease.

This consultation will solicit perspectives on Lyme disease from the medical community, governments, patients’ groups, as well as individual Canadians.

Specific feedback will be solicited on three key themes of the Federal Framework, as outlined in the Act:

  • National medical surveillance: to track incidence rates and the associated economic costs of Lyme disease in Canada.
  • Guidelines and best practices: the prevention, identification, treatment and management of Lyme disease and sharing of best practices throughout Canada.
  • Education and awareness: to develop standardized educational materials for use by Canadian public health providers to increase national awareness about the disease.

The Public Health Agency of Canada’s current Action Plan on Lyme Disease will serve as a platform for the development of the Federal Framework. It aims to mitigate the risks to Canadians posed by Lyme disease through three pillars: engagement, education and awareness; surveillance, prevention and control; and research and diagnosis.

Stakeholders and the public are invited to participate in the online consultation. Comments will be accepted until June 30, 2015.

A Conference will be held with invited stakeholders later this year where the input received through the consultation will inform the development of the Framework.

>>>Full Release Here<<<

My story in Hungry Horse News ‘Ticks: One woman’s warning’

Posted on by Angela D
“My daughter knows what I was like before I was sick,” she said with tears in her eyes. “My son doesn’t.”

Ticks: One woman’s warning

By CHRIS PETERSON Hungry Horse News, May 27, 2015

In April 2010, Angela Daenzer was doing field work as a biologist for the Flathead National Forest when she startled a moose up the Middle Fork. She ducked off into the brush to avoid the angry animal, and while the moose encounter was a bit scary, there were worse things to come.

While hiding in the brush, Daenzer picked up a tick that bit her in the scalp. After a shower hours later, she found the tick and, disgusted by it, she pulled it out of her hair and threw it in the toilet.

Daenzer is convinced that tick gave her Lyme disease, or at the very least a disease very similar to it. Within a week, she became very ill. She got the chills and a sore throat and then what she and her doctors thought was an ear infection and then severe jaw pain.

>>>Full Story<<<

Times Colonist Article Link ~ Speculation Regarding Lyme In Canadian Rockies

Posted on by Angela D

logoTimesColonist

Monique Keiran: Tiny ticks a good reason to be cautious

May 24, 2015

My former (and now future) anti-tick precautions predate confirmation that ticks in western Canada carried the dreaded Borrelia bacteria. Instead, I grew up on tales of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick paralysis and other ailments shared by the seed-sized critters. It was only during my last few years in the mountains that Lyme disease loomed locally as a possibility.

I recently met a colleague from those mountain days. He mentioned that several people he had worked with in the 1980s now suffered from unaccounted-for neurological problems, including memory loss, chronic fatigue, muscle wasting and nerve issues.

He speculated about Lyme disease, but didn’t know. He said the acquaintances also didn’t know. Three decades have passed since they spent their summers roaming slopes, exploring valleys and camping in high-mountain passes.

Lyme disease might have existed in the Rockies back then, but remained undetected, undocumented and unknown. The bacteria can incubate for years in some people before causing illness. It’s also possible the illness occurred back then, but lack of awareness and difficulties with diagnosis — which continue today — left it undiagnosed.

– See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/monique-keiran-tiny-ticks-a-good-reason-to-be-cautious-1.1944790#sthash.fuhfwAYX.dpuf

Related link and additional future links posted HERE.