Talking about Nature's Dirty Needles
1 July, 2015 11:53AM AEST
Researchers find bacteria in tick that may cause Lyme disease-like symptoms
By Joanne Shoebridge and Samantha Turnbull
Flu-like symptoms, headaches, aching joints, lethargy, rashes, paralysis, blurred vision, digestive problems, ringing in the ears - the symptoms attributed to Lyme-like disease read like a playlist of misery.Lyme disease is officially known to occur only in the Northern Hemisphere but, for many decades, people in Australia have been reporting Lyme-like symptoms.
However, a team of researchers from Murdoch University, the University of Sydney and Curtin University have found organisms in one tick that could trigger a similar illness to Lyme disease.
Lead researcher Professor Peter Irwin, of Murdoch University, said they had tested 196 ticks predominantly sourced from Sydney's northern beaches area and they had discovered a single isolate of Borrelia bacteria that is known to cause relapsing fever.
He said there were several types of Borrelia bacteria, but the ones that caused Lyme disease were referred to as the Borrelia Burgdorferi group.
"What our research has done is to look inside some of the ticks that we got from New South Wales and we've been looking for the Lyme disease-causing bacteria, but we've not found it here in Australia," Prof Irwin said.
"That said, we did find another type of bacterium that's closely related to Lyme disease and it's the cause of relapsing fever which is another Borrelia-caused disease."
Of the 196 ticks tested, Prof Irwin said just one contained the Borrelia bacteria.
"So it's very difficult to know if it's a widespread infection of ticks, or whether it's very localised or whether it's a one-off finding," he said.
"More research needs to be done to see if this is something that is common or not.
"It's certainly possible that the bacteria inside these ticks could make people ill, for sure.
"There are lots of different bacteria. There's a long way to go in terms of the research to investigate this, but it's something that a lot of people will be looking at now in great detail."
Prof Irwin said his team planned to study many more ticks collected from around Australia.
Lyme disease-sufferer
One person who will be watching the research with interest is Nimbin resident Michael Bienke who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease that he believes he caught from an Australian tick.
"I got bitten all the time when I was a kid, then this one time I got bitten and three days later I woke up and my head was numb and it was like when your leg goes to sleep but it had happened to my brain," he said.
"I couldn't work it out and then I started getting nervous, anxiety, a bit of a panic attack and then you're off to the hospital and they reckon nothing's wrong.
"Two years later, after five doctors, I got diagnosed with Lyme disease."
Mr Bienke believes if Lyme disease was recognised in Australia it would save a lot of people from experiencing the pain he has endured.
"I've been turned away from hospital and made to feel like a psychotic idiot because I was so sick I didn't know what to do," he said.
"I had a headache for two years, you can't think, you have a cloud in your brain, you can't sleep, it affects your eyes.
"This could be beaten so easily and so many people's lives could be saved, and so much misery."
Senate Inquiry
Have your say, tell your story
In November, the Senate asked a committee to look into Lyme-like illness in Australia. The committee announced their plan with a list of points they will cover. The committee refer to this as a ‘Terms of Reference’. You can find the full terms of reference on the Senate website.
The committee want to:
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find out how many people have a Lyme-like illness and where they live;
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find out how to protect patients, doctors and researchers from poor treatment;
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understand how people get diagnosed with Lyme-like illness. They want to know about pathology laboratories, the types of tests in use and how they work. They want to know how laboratories, and people, can make sure they are doing the right tests the right way. They are interested in overseas tests and if they are different, why? They want to know why tests done overseas are not accepted in Australia;
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find out how much money was spent on research. They want to know what research is looking at the germs and bugs that people get from ticks. They want to know what research is looking at other ways people can become sick with Lyme-like illness;
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find out if there is research looking for a unique Australian bug/s that is causing many people to have a Lyme-like illness;
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find out what types of signs and symptoms people have when they have Lyme-like illness. They want to know how those people are being treated and how patients and families are impacted by their illness; and
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if there is anything else they need to know.
It’s important that everyone who has a Lyme-like illness, and their friends and family make a submission telling the Senate committee about their story. This is your opportunity to stand up and be counted. You don’t need to answer all the points, you can simply tell your own story about how you became sick and how you’ve been treated. You can provide your opinion on any of the other points too. The committee are especially interested in hearing from people with a lived experience of Lyme-like illness.
The committee accepts written submissions. If you are unable to make a written submission, the committee will accept an audio submission and will have your submission transcribed and published with your permission.
If you would like to make a submission and be part of this BIG CHANGING Opportunity, go to the Lyme Disease Association of Australia page
Lyme-like disease may result from related unknown bacteria
August 20, 2014 2.50pm AEST
A Government investigation into whether Lyme disease exists in Australia and how to treat it has ended without being able to resolve the issues. But there is a plausible explanation for why people here report a Lyme-like disease.
Instituted by the chief medical officer, the Clinical Advisory Committee on Lyme Disease was set up in 2013 to work out how to diagnose and treat what it called “Lyme disease-like syndrome”. But the committee says that can’t be done until we know what causes the illness and how it is spread.
Named after the town of Lyme in Connecticut where it was first identified in the 1970s, Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is carried by ticks. It causes flu-like symptoms with associated fatigue, muscle pain and various neurological symptoms. It also causes a bulls-eye rash to develop around the site of the tick bite.
The bacteria has not been identified in any tick in Australia, but many people have nonetheless been diagnosed with Lyme disease or Lyme-like illness, based on their symptoms. The diagnosis is often complemented with laboratory tests from Australian and overseas laboratories.
The controversy about the disease arose because the official position is that Borrelia burgdorferii doesn’t exist in Australia, and that positive lab tests are from people acquiring infection outside the country or the tests are false positives. The net result was that doctors were unwilling to give the diagnosis, often despite positive lab results, and prescribe the necessary antibiotic treatment.
Testing infection
The DNA sequence of Borrelia burgdorferi. AJ Cann/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA
There are a number of ways to test the cause of a bacterial infection. The first to identify the causative agent, isolate it and grow it in pure culture. If you can induce the disease by injecting or ingesting that pure culture and if you can re-isolate it from the new host, then that bug is the cause of the disease. This is the best form of proof.
The next best way is to undertake DNA sequencing to assign the bug to a particular species, family, and genus. But this sort of testing has proven contentious in the case of Lyme disease for both patient blood samples and bacteria from Australian ticks.
We know Australia’s common bush or grass ticks Ixodes holocyclus carrya strain of Borrelia, but a DNA probe study another research group failed to find the organism in Australian ticks.
One reason for this anomaly could be the genes used as targets of the DNA probe. If that gene is shared by all Borrelia bacteria, then the bug will most likely be detected. But if the probe detects a gene specific to Borrelia burgdorferi from the Lyme region of Connecticut, it’s likely that related organisms, such as Borrelia cousins, may not be detected.
The third option is to study the antibodies in the blood of infected people. The problem with this approach for identifying Lyme disease in Australia has revolved around the validity of the tests done here and abroad. The criteria used to detect positivity are not agreed on and questions have been raised about whether the testing laboratories are appropriately accredited.
But that doesn’t resolve the dilemma facing people who arrive at their doctor’s rooms with a positive test in hand from a lab in Germany or the United States or Australia and are told the tests cannot be believed.
An alternative explanation
The problem at the heart of the issue is that Borrelia burgforferii causes a unique set of symptoms, but tests for this organism are often negative in people with Lyme-like symptoms.
Lyme disease causes a bulls-eye rash to develop around the site of the tick bite. Chris Booth/Flickr, CC BY-SA
So, does the problem lie with the test, or is the patient actually not infected? Could they have another infection with similar symptoms? There’s no way to know the answer unless we test for each specific bacterium.
But there’s a recent US report of patients infected with a new strain of Borrelia – Borrelia miyamotoi. This organism was found in ticks many decades ago but, until recently, it wasn’t known to infect humans.
The first report about this bacteria was from Russia where genetic analysis using DNA probes found the organism associated with a relapsing fever in 46 people. Spinal fluid analysis showed a Borrelia-like wiggling spiral-shaped bacterium but DNA tests failed to find the classic Lyme disease organism Borrelia burgdorferi, only the previously innocuous Borrelia miyamotoi.
A new infective diagnosis became both possible and plausible for people with Lyme-like symptoms. Could Australia not have a unique strain of Borrelia that only shares some of its identity with the tested for Borrelia burgdorferi?
I suspect there does exist in Australian animals at least two tick-transmitted Borrelia organisms that cause Lyme-like disease.
People with Lyme disease’s traditional bull’s eye rash could well be carrying the American Borrelia burgdorferi. But those without the rash who test negative to Borrelia burgdorferi may be carrying an Australia-specific Borrelia.
Author
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Tim Roberts
Professor of Biology at University of Newcastle
https://theconversation.com/lyme-like-disease-may-result-from-related-unknown-bacteria-14152
Lyme disease: Tick researcher finds bacteria with similar symptoms to controversial disease
By Gian De Poloni
Posted 30 Jun 2015, 7:05am
PHOTO: Many patients aren't aware that they have had a tick bite (Flickr: John Tann)
EXTERNAL LINK: Background briefing Lyme disease
MAP: Perth 6000
Bacteria found in Australian ticks can cause similar symptoms to Lyme disease, but research is no closer to proving tick bites cause the controversial illness domestically, a researcher says.
Perth-based Murdoch University Professor Peter Irwin is heading up a national research team that has collected up to 20,000 ticks from across the country to study the bacteria they carry and their potential to cause disease.
Tick bites are a major health concern internationally and have been proven to trigger Lyme disease in some people, however the Australian breed is not thought to carry the inflammatory bacteria.
Lyme Disease is not recognised by the Australian Government, however many people have reported symptoms over the years.
Symptoms include fatigue, fever and headache. When left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart and the central nervous system.
The American Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says Lyme disease is caused by bacterium borrelia burgdorferi.
However controversy surrounds the long-term treatment for people who say they are chronic sufferers.
The CDC disputes claims by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society that long-term treatment with antibiotics is effective.
Professor Irwin said his research to date had not been able to show conclusively that Australian ticks carry the Lyme disease-causing bacteria, but has found organisms in one tick that could trigger a similar illness.
"Borrelia is the name of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, but there are several different types," he said.
"One of the types [of borrelia] is associated with a disease known as relapsing fever and we found the DNA bacteria of that type in one tick."
"As the same suggests, relapsing fever causes fevers that come and go and a wide range of other symptoms in people, some of which have similarities with Lyme disease, such as extreme fatigue and nausea."
Professor Irwin said the study was in its early days, with only 196 ticks having been examined so far.
"We need to test many more ticks yet to be certain of these results," he said.
"We're going to be hard at work for another year or so to try and get a representative sample of ticks from all over the country.
"The ticks here in Australia have evolved with our native wildlife and just like our wildlife is very different to anywhere else in the world, the same is true with our ticks."
The study is being conducted by researchers from both Murdoch and Curtin universities as well as the University of Sydney.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/lyme-disease-murdoch-tick-research-bacteria-discovery/6582288
CMO Progress Report Aug 2015
Aug 20, 2015
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
PROGRESS REPORT ON LYME DISEASE IN AUSTRALIA
On 31 July 2014 I wrote to you about Lyme disease in Australia and provided you with a progress report against each of the terms of reference of the former Clinical Advisory Committee on Lyme Disease in Australia (CACLD). I also highlighted what the Department of Health’s future role will be regarding Lyme disease in Australia.
The department remains concerned about many Australians suffering a chronic debilitating illness which they associate with a tick bite. My colleagues and I have closely followed the research being undertaken in Australia, in particular keeping a watchful eye on that being undertaken at Murdoch University and Sydney University.
Please find attached an update on the Department of Health’s recent activities on Lyme disease and on the research from Professor Peter Irwin at
Murdoch University. Should you have any questions please contact Dr Gary Lum (Gary.Lum@health.gov.au).
Yours sincerely
Professor Chris Baggoley, AO
BVSc (Hons), BM BS, BSocAdmin, FACEM
20 August 2015
Attachment:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
While classical Lyme disease cannot be acquired in Australia, patients may present who have travelled through endemic areas. Lyme disease is prevalent in north east United States of America, parts of Europe including Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Sweden as well as parts of the United Kingdom. Lyme disease can also be
found in Russia, Japan and China. For patients who present with no history of overseas travel but with a tick bite and systemic symptoms, e.g., fever, contact with your Specialist Microbiologist to discuss test referral and with your Infectious Diseases Physician to discuss antimicrobial treatment of tick borne infections in the
Australian context is advised.
Lyme disease should be considered in patients presenting with a history of tick bite from one of these areas along with a fever and mild influenza-like symptoms. An annular rash, Erythema Migrans may be present in 70–80% of patients presenting with Lyme disease. Other manifestations of Lyme disease occur and descriptions can be found in the body of the guideline. For example, Lyme neuroborreliosis can manifest as meningoradiculoneuritis, meningitis, cranial neuritis (predominately involving the facial nerve), brachial plexus neuritis, and mononeuritis; Lyme carditis can manifest with palpitations, chest discomfort, shortness of breath, dizziness on exercise or syncope; and rheumatological Lyme disease can present with arthralgia and myalgia. Rheumatological presentations are more common with north American acquisition and neurological presentations with European acquisition.
If Lyme disease is being considered, patients should be referred for Lyme disease serology to your regular Approved Pathology Practitioner (APP).
The testing follows a two tiered approach involving a screening immunoassay and a confirmatory immunoblot. If you have concerns or questions about the testing please contact your Approved Pathology Laboratory’s (APL) Specialist Microbiologist.
While this guidance document is focussed on the diagnosis of overseas acquired Lyme disease in Australia, treatment advice can be found at the Infectious Diseases Society of America website (http://www.idsociety.org/ViewAllLyme/). Should you require further advice please make contact with an infectious diseases physician.
http://www.karlmcmanusfoundation.org.au/news/26/32/CMO-Progress-Report-Aug-2015
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