fleas and Lyme

[Guest guest]

FLEAS-

hmm...I just did a short publications search...came up empty...meaning no good

studies about Lyme etc and fleas- fleas DO harbor and/or transmit pathogens,

including Bartonella and Ehrlichia. ( plague is really from the fleas on the

rats) I'm guessing that the field of vector borne illness while now in a growth

phase is fairly under-researched as yet...due to the very specific nature of

what's involved and given the dearth of funding ( thanks to our blessed Govt)--

most efforts have been on things causing large numbers to suffer greatly--like

malaria, typhoid, chagas etc....to fund a study simply studying everything

inside of an insect or arthropod--like a flea--small and hard to deal with in

any case---and then study what if any can cause illness AND then if any of that

can even be passed along and HOW that may happen and to which

animal...whoosh...you can see the problems. The field is so open--West Nile,

Bird Flu, etc etc and Lord knows how many as yet undiscovered pathogens??? Look

how many years before they even thought to look for Bartonella or Myco from a

tick borne perspective???

what mucks things up is that MTBI's are both zoonotic and vector borne: able to

be transmitted to humans/shared by humans and other animals AND transmitted by

insects and other arthropods. And in many cases there is a dependency upon going

thru one to many hosts before the entity becomes pathogenic (harmful or causing

illness). Just finding something inside of let's say a flea does NOT mean it can

pass it on OR that it can then cause illness!!

I did find one listing in a microbio journal that there is (or will be) a study

of vaccinating the vectors somehow ( Im guessing instead of spraying insecticide

or sex hormone disruptors in a habitat, they spray or apply something that is

absorbed or ingested by vectors and then renders the pathogen harmless or

dead?/)sounds interesting

Many arthropods transmit disease ( bedbugs-Chagas, etc...)from lice (!) to sand

flies, biting flies, midges, mosquitoes, ticks etc. so they all can possibly

harbor disease causing microbes.

What I did find:

Article on arthropod vectors for Rickettsial diseases (incl Ehrlichia, spotted

fever, typhus)

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol4no2/azad.htm

Texas Dept Health, 1999 states that Lyme transmission may be possible from flea

or other blood sucking arthropod exposures:

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/health/dpn/issues/dpn59n10.pdf

sorry but given my vision blurs and headaches today ( just finished a run of

triple Biaxin and started a run of double Suprax this A.M.) I couldnt do more.

[ ] Re: MTBI running in families

I have to agree with you, Finette. I do wonder about flea transmission,

since they are blood sucking, biting insects. Has anyone heard anything

on this?

(TN)