Volume: 5 Table of Contents: I. LYMENET: U.S. Army Lyme Disease Risk Assessments Available II. LYMENET: European Union Concerted Action on Lyme borreliosis Web Site Now Available III. J PARASITOL: Unusual strain of Borrelia burgdorferi isolated from Ixodes dentatus in central Georgia. IV. J PARASITOL: Lyme borreliosis in the southern United States: a review. V. CLIN PEDIATR: Environmental and life-style risk factors for Lyme disease in children. VI. About The LymeNet Newsletter Newsletter: *********************************************************************** * The National Lyme Disease Network * * LymeNet Newsletter * *********************************************************************** IDX# Volume 5 / Number 02 / 18-FEB-97 IDX# INDEX IDX# IDX# I. LYMENET: U.S. Army Lyme Disease Risk Assessments Available IDX# II. LYMENET: European Union Concerted Action on Lyme IDX# borreliosis Web Site Now Available IDX# III. J PARASITOL: Unusual strain of Borrelia burgdorferi IDX# isolated from Ixodes dentatus in central Georgia. IDX# IV. J PARASITOL: Lyme borreliosis in the southern United IDX# States: a review. IDX# V. CLIN PEDIATR: Environmental and life-style risk factors IDX# for Lyme disease in children. IDX# VI. About The LymeNet Newsletter IDX# EDITOR'S NOTE: In LymeNet Newsletter Volume 5, Number 01, we informed you of the 10th Annual International Conference on Lyme Disease & other Tick-borne Disorders, to be held in Bethesda, MD. The date of the event was not noted. The conference will take place on April 28, 29 and 30. We apologize for the omission. For more information, please contact the LDF at: [email protected] . I. LYMENET: U.S. Army Lyme Disease Risk Assessments Available ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sender: Art Doherty <[email protected]> For many years, the U.S. Army has been conducting Lyme Disease Risk Assessments (LDRAs) at various military installations throughout the country. Reports of these studies have been obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and are being made available on the Internet at: http://www.utech.net/users/10766/lyme.htm Also included at this web site is the original FOIA request letter, the Army's reply, and summaries of all 170 assessment reports obtained. Although all the studies are not on the web site, many more will be added in the near future. An important aspect of these studies: If you live in an area local to one of the facilities that has a risk for Lyme disease, your doctor is not correct when he says, "You could not possibly have Lyme disease, there is no Lyme disease in the area." =====*===== II. LYMENET: European Union Concerted Action on Lyme borreliosis Web Site Now Available ------------------------------------------------------------------ Sender: Martin Smith <[email protected]> A new site of possible interest can be found at: http://www.dis.strath.ac.uk/lymeeu/index.htm The site consists of a review of Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease). It includes summaries of the results of a three-year EU-funded research project into the disease by fifty scientists from twenty countries. Includes images, video clips, publications listing, local search engine and prevention, diagnosis and treatment information. =====*===== III. J PARASITOL: Unusual strain of Borrelia burgdorferi isolated from Ixodes dentatus in central Georgia. ------------------------------------------------------------------ AUTHORS: Oliver JH Jr, Chandler FW Jr, James AM, Huey LO, Vogel GN Sanders FH Jr ORGANIZATION: Department of Biology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro 30460-8056. REFERENCE: J Parasitol 1996 Dec;82(6):936-40 URL: http://search.lymenet.org/Abstracts/97128862.htm ABSTRACT: A new, unusual spirochete was cultured in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK II) medium from the midgut and other tissues of the tick Ixodes dentatus. The tick was collected from leaf litter in an oak-pine wood lot in Bibb County approximately 7.2 km from Macon in central Georgia during February 1993. Characterization by indirect immunofluorescence using 5 murine monoclonal antibodies, by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of whole spirochetal lysates, and by polymerase chain reaction assay for several known DNA target sequences indicates that the spirochete is Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato. It is genetically different from the B-31 reference strain of B. burgdorferi sensu stricto that is typical of strains causing Lyme borreliosis in North America. Range of infectivity and pathogenesis of the Bibb County isolate (BC-1) are unknown but being investigated. The BC-1 strain is the first B. burgdorferi isolate from I. dentatus in the southeastern United States (I. dentatus is not the common vector for Lyme borreliosis in humans). Additionally, the collection site was approximately 322 km from the Atlantic coast, far distant from where most B. burgdorferi isolates have been obtained. =====*===== IV. J PARASITOL: Lyme borreliosis in the southern United States: a review. ------------------------------------------------------------------ AUTHORS: Oliver JH Jr ORGANIZATION: Institute of Arthropodology and Parasitology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro 30460-8056. REFERENCE: J Parasitol 1996 Dec;82(6):926-35 URL: http://search.lymenet.org/Abstracts/97128861.htm ABSTRACT: Lyme borreliosis (Lyme disease) is the most often reported arthropod transmitted disease in humans in the U.S.A. Although it has been reported from 43 states, cases are especially abundant in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern regions. Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent, is transmitted primarily by the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus) in far western North America, and by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) in eastern North America. Although Lyme disease cases have been reported from southern states, some researchers doubt the presence of B. burgdorferi or of human Lyme disease in the south. However, new data show that B. burgdorferi is widely distributed in the south and that strains are genetically more varied than in the north. Moreover, B. burgdorferi enzootic cycles appear to be more complex and more tick species are identified as vectors of the spirochete in the southern states. =====*===== V. CLIN PEDIATR: Environmental and life-style risk factors for Lyme disease in children. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHORS: Klein JD, Eppes SC, Hunt P, ORGANIZATION: Department of Pediatrics, Jefferson Medical College, Wilmington, Delaware. REFERENCE: Clin Pediatr (Phila) 1996 Jul;35(7):359-63 URL: http://search.lymenet.org/Abstracts/96426727.htm ABSTRACT: Risk factors for Lyme disease and/or infection with Borrelia burgdorferi in children are not defined. A case-control study was performed using Lyme disease patients from our Lyme Clinic population. Age- and sex-matched controls from the same neighborhood were identified by the Lyme patients' families. A site visit was made to each case/control neighborhood. Twenty-four environmental variables, especially the ecologic characteristics of the home environment were examined. Forty-five items were surveyed by parent questionnaire, including certain "high-risk" activities and behaviors, whether ticks or certain animals were present on the property, and whether antitick measures were used. Control subjects had serologic assays for antibodies to B. burgdorferi. Forty-four Lyme disease patients and 44 well-matched control subjects participated; 2 controls were seropositive. Significant associations with Lyme disease were found for deer ticks in the home environment, ground cover containing moist humus, and leaf litter in the yard. Among the 45 items related to life-style, there was no correlation with Lyme disease for the use of any antitick measures or for any childhood activities; in fact, an inverse correlation was observed for camping and fishing. We conclude that conditions in the immediate home environment, including certain ecologic factors that favor the presence of Ixodes ticks, are associated with an increased risk for Lyme disease in children. =====*===== VI. 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