Co-Infections

Common Symptoms of Tick-borne Co-infections

A tick bite can deliver Borrelia plus a plethora of other pathogens referred to as co-infections. This further complicates the clinical picture as they often have similar symptomatology and it is hard to differentiate between them.

Globally common co-infections include Babesia, Bartonella, Ricketsia, Ehrlichia/Anaplasma, Q-fever, tick borne encephalitis virus, West Nile virus, Francisella tularensis and others. Babesia is the most commonly found co-infection in USA and the incidence with Borrelia varies with the endemic area and the reservoir animals. (Diuk-Wasser et al 2014; Pujalte & Chua 2013). B.microti, B.duncani, B.divergens, B.venatorum are infectious to humans to date. Tick borne encephalitis virus has become a growing health concern in Europe and Asia and a vaccine has been developed.

Rickettsia is the most common tick-borne infection found in Australia. It can be transmitted by a tick, flea or mite bite and infects the microvascular endothelium bordering blood vessels, leading to disseminated inflammation, loss of barrier function and altered vascular permeability (vasculitis) (Manseuto et al 2012,Sahni et al., 2013) and spreads from cell to cell. Prominent effects include increased vascular permeability, water retention in tissues, reduced blood volume, low blood pressure and low albumin with low blood osmolality (Mansueto et al 2012).

Ehrlichia and Anaplasma are very similar microorganisms that infect host neutrophils and/or monocytes. Ehrlichia is a tick-borne bacterial infection of the family Anaplasmataceae genera Ehrlichia. Anaplasma is of the same family but part of genera Anaplasma. The most common in humans is Anaplasma phagocytophilum – human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), previously known as Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), and the other common one is E. chaffeensis – human monocytic ehrlichiosis (Breitschwerdt et al 2014).

Bartonella is an emerging pathogen. Nine genospecies have been shown to be pathogenic in humans to date (Woolley et al, 2007). It is transmitted by lice, fleas, ticks infected rats, and cats.

other-infections

Pyroluria

Babesia

Bartonella

Mycoplasma

Mycoplasma – Often Overlooked In Chronic Lyme Disease by Scott Forsgren

Those of us with chronic Lyme disease are quite familiar with the names of the better known Lyme co‐infections. Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia have become everyday words. As much as we would like to rid ourselves of these illness producing pathogens, they have become a part of our daily struggle toregain a sense of health and wellness.

Unfortunately, these are not the only co- infections seen in chronic Lyme disease. For some reason, Mycoplasma infections are not only lesser known by patients, but seemingly often overlooked by doctors as well. It is important for us, as patients, to educate ourselves on the topic of Mycoplasma and to ask our practitioners how we are being evaluated and treated for these infections.

In 1987, Dr. Garth Nicolson, PhD was a professor at the University of Texas at Houston when his wife, an instructor at Baylor College of Medicine, became seriously ill and nearly died. She was diagnosed with a Mycoplasma infection, treated, and later recovered. A few years later, their daughter, who had served in the Gulf War, returned from active duty quite ill. Not only was she sick, but the symptoms that she exhibited were very similar to those that Dr. Nicolson’s wife had expressed years earlier.

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