Ticks are Nasty

It is hard to get used to the idea of something living by drinking blood. Blood is a precious thing to us. Without it we don't live for very long. Unfortunately, some creatures need blood to survive. Ticks are one such creature.

Ticks also ingest whatever disease-causing microbe that happens to be in their blood meals. These microbes don't usually cause problems for the tick and as a result they make a good carrier (vector) of disease to humans. Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis are examples of diseases these nasty ticks can give to people.

A recent study in the April 2001 issue of Journal of Clinical Microbiology has demonstrated that another microbe might be passed to humans by ticks. Researchers from the University of California-Davis have discovered that a bacterium called Bartonella henselae can also be found in ticks in California. They looked for Bartonella henselae DNA in Ixodes pacificus ticks and found this bacteria's DNA in nearly 20 percent of the ticks tested.

Bartonella henselae causes cat scratch disease (CSD). Most people get CSD from cat scratches and bites. This disease causes people to feel tired and have a low-grade fever and will grow in the lymph nodes causing them to swell. CSD can last from weeks to several months. Most of the time the infection will go away by itself which is good because there aren't any antibiotics proven effective in treating it.

However, if a person's immune system is compromised more serious illnesses can occur involving the skin and the liver. These infections can be treated with antibiotics.

The researchers in this study do mention that ticks have not been shown to transmit CSD to humans.

"We cannot say for certain that ticks are vectors of these diseases, but at the least we can say they carry Bartonella DNA and could be potential vectors," says Dr. Bruno Chomel, one of the investigators on the study. He did mention that other evidence suggests it's possible. A paper published in the early 1990s reported two cases of CSD where the only known risk factor was a tick bite.

Reports of CSD before the identification of Bartonella henselae as the cause describe cases that did not appear to be caused by a cat scratch. It is estimated that these non-traditional modes of infection may account for up to five percent of all cases of the disease.

With further research on and careful examination of CSD patients , another way of getting this disease may be discovered. Yet another reason for me to not like ticks.

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