Lyme disease MUST be considered by every doctor (Specialist, GP, or Naturopathic/Complimentary) in the differential diagnoses anywhere in Canada.
Can Dis Wkly Rep. 1990 Apr 14; 16(15): 69. Lyme Disease vectors known to be in Province since 1980's
Lyme disease vector, Ixodes dammini, identified in Nova Scotia.
Bell CR, Specht HB, Coombs BA. The search for Ixodes dammini (Ixodes Scapularis) and Borrelia burgdorferi in Nova Scotia. Can J Infect Dis 1992;3:224-30. Why is this information not made public as to how the research was done, where they looked, the methodology and quality of research?
Also, more info...
FIRST ISOLATION OF LYME DISEASE SPIROCHETE, BORRELIA BURGDORFERI,
FROM BLACKLEGGED TICK, IXODES SCAPULARIS, REMOVED FROM A BIRD IN
NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA
The Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, has been isolated
from a blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis, removed from a songbird
in Canada. On 28 May 1999, this engorged blacklegged tick nymph was removed
from a common yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas, collected during
bird banding on Bon Portage Island, Nova Scotia.
The Atlantic Bird Observatory participated in collecting attached ticks
from passerine birds banded on Seal Island and Bon Portage Island off
the southwest tip of Nova Scotia. During spring migration, 21 ticks were
collected from 12 individual birds (4 species) from 14 to 29 May 1999.
These immature (larva, nymph) ticks on birds included the rabbit tick,
Haemaphysalis leporispalustris, and I. scapularis (Table
1).
As part of a monitoring program of ticks on birds in southern Canada,
these engorged ticks were forwarded for identification, and then sent
by courier to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control Society
(BCCDCS) for spirochetal analysis. At the BCCDCS, the tick identifications
were confirmed and the ticks were surface sterilized using 10% hydrogen
peroxide followed by 70% isopropyl alcohol, and transferred to sterile
tissue to remove excess water. Dead ticks underwent DNA analysis directly
using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. For live ticks, the midgut
contents were cultured in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK) II medium at 34°
C, and cultures were checked weekly by dark-field microscopy. Within 10
days, characteristic motile spirochetes were observed in one culture.
The isolate was immunostained with monoclonal antibodies of B. burgdorferi,
namely, OspA (31 kilodalton [kDa]), OspB (34 kDa), P39 (39 kDa), and flagellin
(41 kDa), and found to be reactive. Using PCR, DNA amplification of the
OspA gene was conducted on the isolate and confirmed positive for B.
burgdorferi.
Table 1 Ticks retrieved from birds on Bon Portage
Island and Seal Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, 14 to 29 May 1999
|
Bird species
|
Migration code*
|
Number of birds
with ticks
|
Ixodes scapularis
|
Haemaphysalis leporispalustris
|
|
Larva
|
Nymph**
|
Larva
|
Nymph
|
|
Common yellowthroat,
Geothlypis trichas
|
1
|
7
|
1
|
10
|
0
|
0
|
|
Northern waterthrush,
Seiurus noveboracensis
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Swainson's thrush,
Catharus ustulatus
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
|
Song sparrow,
Melospiza melodia
|
3
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
|
Total
|
|
12
|
6
|
12
|
3
|
0
|
|
* Migration code: 1 - The species migrates to the southern United
States where it also occurs all year; 2 - The species is a neotropical
migrant which overwinters in tropical areas; 3 - The species occurs
all year in Nova Scotia.
** An isolate of Borrelia burgdorferi was obtained from
a nymph collected on Bon Portage Island on 28 May 1999.
|
This is the first isolation of B. burgdorferi from a blacklegged
tick removed from a migratory bird in Canada. In fact, it is the first
isolation of B. burgdorferi in Nova Scotia. On route to Nova Scotia,
tropical-wintering species of birds, (i.e. Swainson's thrush, northern
waterthrush, and common yellowthroat) fly through the New England states
which are endemic for Ixodes scapularis and Lyme disease. Interestingly,
song sparrows, which overwinter in Nova Scotia, were only infested with
rabbit ticks which are indigenous to the area(1). The first
record of an I. scapularis (reported as I. dammini) removed
from a bird in Canada was a nymph collected from a road-killed common
yellowthroat at Windsor, Nova Scotia, in late May 1990(2).
Since then, researchers reported immature blacklegged ticks on an American
robin and chipping sparrow at Thunder Cape on Sibley Peninsula, Ontario,
in the late spring of 1995(3). Of epidemiologic significance,
the common yellowthroat acts as a competent reservoir for B. burgdorferi(4)
.Even though random occurrence of blacklegged ticks have been previously
reported in Nova Scotia, no known population has been identified. The
present evidence clearly points out that spring migratory birds are involved
in bringing B. burgdorferi-infected I. scapularis ticks
long distances into Canada.
References
-
Gregson JD. The Ixodoidea of Canada.
Department of Agriculture of Canada, Science Service, Division of
Entomology, 1956 (Publication 930):1-92.
-
Bell CR, Specht HB, Coombs BA. The search for Ixodes
dammini and Borrelia burgdorferi in
Nova Scotia. Can J Infect Dis 1992;3:224-30.
-
Klich M, Lankester MW, Wu KW. Spring migratory birds (Aves)
extend the northern occurrence of blacklegged tick (Acari:
Ixodidae). J Med Entomol 1996;33:581-85.
-
Anderson JF, Johnson RC, Magnarelli LA et al. Involvement of
birds in the epidemiology of the Lyme disease agent Borreliaburgdorferi.
Infect Immun 1986;51:394-96.
Source :
MG Morshed, PhD, RSM (CCM), Head, Vector-borne Diseases Laboratory,
BCCDCS, Vancouver, B.C.; JD Scott, BSc (Agr.), President, Lyme Disease
Association of Ontario, Fergus, Ont.; SN Banerjee, PhD, M. Banerjee, Department
of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C.; T Fitzgerald, BSc, Atlantic Bird Observatory, Department
of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, N.S.; K Fernando, MSc, R Mann,
RT, Vector-borne Diseases Laboratory, J Isaac-Renton, MD, PhD, FRCPC,
Director, Provincial Laboratory, BCCDCS, Vancouver, B.C.
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